Updating author: Tina McKevitt

Summary

6.318

• The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 mostly protects employees, but the definition of 'employee' is wider than that contained in other employment legislation. (See 6.320 Who is protected?)
• An employer's liability is not limited to its own actions. There are circumstances in which an employer will be liable for the acts of others in the same way as for sex and race discrimination. (See 6.321 Who is liable?)
• Discrimination occurs where a disabled person is treated less favourably on the ground of his or her disability, or is treated less favourably for a reason relating to his or her disability and that treatment is not justified, or where the employer has failed to make reasonable adjustments.  Employees are protected from harassment, and victimisation because they have brought a claim or made a complaint of disability discrimination. (See 6.322 Discrimination and victimisation, 6.326 Direct discrimination, 6.330 Harassment, 6.327 Disability-related discrimination, 6.329 Justification and 6.332 Reasonable adjustments)
• A person has a disability 'if he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities'. (See 6.323 Definition of disability)
• Sickness by itself is not a disability. (See 6.323 Definition of disability)
• The effect of any medical treatment that the employee is receiving should be disregarded when assessing whether he or she meets the definition of disability. (See 6.324 Medical treatment)
• There are conditions that are specifically excluded from the definition of disability and therefore the scope of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. (See 6.325 Excluded conditions)
• An employer may still be held liable for discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 even where it was unaware that an employee was disabled. (See 6.328 Knowledge of disability)
• An employer may justify less favourable treatment for a reason related to an individual's disability if the reason is both material to the circumstances of the particular case and substantial. (See 6.329 Justification)
• The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 imposes a duty on an employer to make reasonable adjustments to working conditions or to the physical working environment where a disabled employee is at a substantial disadvantage. (See 6.332 Reasonable adjustments)
• An employer's duty is limited to carrying out reasonable adjustments and there are specific factors to take into account in assessing if a particular adjustment is reasonable. (See 6.333 Reasonableness factors)
• Medical evidence may be needed in order for the employer to assess if the employee is disabled within the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and to identify if there are reasonable adjustments that could be made to alleviate any substantial disadvantage. (See 6.334 Medicals)
• Public authorities have a general duty to eliminate disability discrimination and promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. (See 6.335 Public authorities)

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Future developments

6.319 Equality Bill: Existing discrimination legislation is to be consolidated into a single Equality Act in order to provide a simpler, more consistent legal framework for preventing discrimination.

The Equality Bill was formally introduced in the House of Commons on 24 April 2009, and received a second reading in May.