Case law: Monitoring disabled employees' work and workflow can be a reasonable adjustment for the purposes of discrimination law

Employers should consider monitoring disabled employees' work and workflows as part of the process of considering 'reasonable adjustments' at work, a recent ruling makes clear.

An employee was disabled by reason of his epilepsy. Employers are legally required to make 'reasonable adjustments' for disabled employees, to alleviate the effect of their disadvantage. The employers may have to change how things are done, make physical changes at work, or provide equipment or help to the employee. Whether an adjustment is 'reasonable' depends on the circumstances.

In this case the employee asked his employer to monitor his work and workflow, to ensure that he was not being overloaded. The employer refused, arguing that this was not a reasonable adjustment.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal disagreed. It ruled that monitoring work activity and work-flow was capable of being a step in the process of making reasonable adjustments, as it was a reasonable step for the employer to take to stop the employee getting into difficulties at work.

Operative date

• Now

Recommendation

• Employers should consider monitoring disabled employees' work and workflows as part of the process of considering 'reasonable adjustments' for them at work

Case ref: Watkins v HSBC Bank Plc UKEAT/0018/18/DA