Disability and Employment law in the UK

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know or have good experience with a disability rights and employment

lawyer in the UK?

I made the *HUGE* mistake of filing a letter with my employer about needing

extra time off after travel due to my CMT, to battle the fatigue element. Now

they will open a medical investigation, which of course is standard procedure,

to examine what exactly CMT is and if therefore my job needs to be reconfigured

(to save the company for possible neglect of duty charges). Personally I am

happy that the travel element may be less, but scared that they may remove my

current posting from me and place me in something unsuitable due to my diagnosis

of CMT. I believe I am able to manage the medical interaction as I have an

excellent relationship with my consultant neurologist and they are very

interactive and responsible at the National Hospital for Neurology and

Neurosurgery. But I do of course want to manage this carefully, and I also want

to safeguard what I view to be my rights of freedom of choice and rights to

privacy, of course.

Thanks anyone for forwarding along good lawyer details you may have! I will

also do a search on the archives once I get home (I am not able to do much from

the office, clearly!)...

Best wishes,

Donna from London

[Guest guest]

Donna:

I don't live in the UK but I did use a local Human Rights lawyer to assist me in

getting the money a company owed me after being fired by them. I would look for

a local human rights office in your area. They are as effective as getting a

lawyer privately and cheaper.

Marin

Bridgeport, CT

I made the *HUGE* mistake of filing a letter with my employer about needing

extra time off after travel due to my CMT, to battle the fatigue element. Now

they will open a medical investigation, which of course is standard procedure,

to examine what exactly CMT is and if therefore my job needs to be reconfigured

(to save the company for possible neglect of duty charges). Personally I am

happy that the travel element may be less, but scared that they may remove my

current posting from me and place me in something unsuitable due to my diagnosis

of CMT. I believe I am able to manage the medical interaction as I have an

excellent relationship with my consultant neurologist and they are very

interactive and responsible at the National Hospital for Neurology and

Neurosurgery. But I do of course want to manage this carefully, and I also want

to safeguard what I view to be my rights of freedom of choice and rights to

privacy, of course.

Thanks anyone for forwarding along good lawyer details you may have! I will

also do a search on the archives once I get home (I am not able to do much from

the office, clearly!)...

Best wishes,

Donna from London

[Guest guest]

Hi Donna

 

I wish I could advise but the ish and the English legal services are

different. That said, you could look for disability advocacy in google might

throw up some good results. ish services tend to be funded by local

authorities but I would assume that the English system has something similar .

If you attend a health centre perhaps the receptionists might give you some

leads.

 

As far as I'm aware though UK legislation doesn't allow your employer just to

move you without any prior consultation; and any decent employer won't sideline

you into something that you neither are cabable of doing, want to do or for a

lesser salary.

 

I'm assuming that you work for a multi national who should have a semi-decent HR

dept so on balance I don't think you have much to worry about in the UK.

 

Hope things work out OK

 

Regards

 

Fiona in Glasgow

[Guest guest]

Hi Donna,

My suggestions on this is 1)to contact at secretary@... she may

have resources and 2)contact Nosccr.org in the US and ask if they know of anyone

in the UK.

NOSSCR nosscr@...

560 Sylvan Ave

Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

Phone: 201-567-4228 | Fax: 201-567-1542

Lawyer Referral Service: 800-431-2804

Shor, Executive Director

Barbara Silverstone, Staff Attorney

Gretchen

[Guest guest]

Hi Fiona in Glasgow,

I do work for a large multinational - but it is a macho bravado culture

without strong policies in place. For example, when I joined in 2004 I

enquired about needing an opt out for the working time directive as I did a

similar role with my previous employer and had one. They said no. Then in

2008 I was given an opt out form to sign. My job scope had not changed

since 2004, they just finally got around to assessing and determining

something I had enquired about in 2004. And rolling it out to the whole

company. Needless to say I declined signing the opt out as nothing had

changed since my first question.

I filed my letter because I firstly feel threatened at work - the bravado

culture makes me feel uneasy about taking time off for medical and physio

appointments. Secondly, my reasonable requests for time off following

overnight travel are looked at as unreasonable by some managers. So thus

the letter.

In my opinion, human resources as a corporate function is designed to

protect the company, not the employee. For this reason I am in search of a

disability / employment lawyer. I just want solid advice as I go through

the process. The Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK has a good

hotline and brochures about the application of the Disability Discrimination

Act of 1995. But although CMT is classified as a disability here (driver

license declaration etc) this is the first official submission I have made

to my employer on my having CMT. Therefore they wish to assess if I am

disabled before implementing the request.

Sigh. A long and tortuous process. I do however feel protected now more

than before by opening this up, ironically, although as a very active person

admitting to having a disabling condition is a hard step to take.

Take care and thanks for the note,

Donna from London