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Legal protection against disability discrimination 

 

Employment 

 

 

It is illegal for an employer to discriminate against a disabled individual. 

The Equality act applies to all aspects of employment including: application processes, form filling, selection of candidates,and associated skill testing. It also covers individuals where employment  termination, dismissal, pay, promotion, and training programmes. 

 

The employer must make “reasonable adjustments” to prevent disabled individuals from being disadvantaged in comparison to other individuals e.g. working hours must be adjusted, or equipment must be provided ......

 

Recruitment

Individuals may only be asked particular questions concerning their disability in order to determine the following:

  • If the individual can undertake the interview in the first place

  • If the individual can carry out an essential task part of the work

  • Whether reasonable adjustments are required for the following selection process

  • To help monitoring

  • If this helps the employer decide whether they want to hire more disabled workers 

  • If this is necessary to undertake national security checks 

 

Redundancy and retirement

An individual's job cannot be terminated solely due to their disability 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Under what legal act is an individual with a mental illness protected under?

 

At present the legal act which covers mental illnesses is the Equality act 2010. The purpose of this act is to legally protect individuals against discrimination

 

This Act has combined the following acts:

  • ​Equal pay act 1970

  • Sex discrimination act 1975

  • Race relations act 1976

  • Disability discrimination act 1995

 

When is depression or any other mental  considered as a disability? 

Disability under the equality act is defined as when an individual has a PHYSICAL or MENTAL impairment

This impairment has a “SUBSTANTIAL” and “LONG TERM” affect on the indivduals to undertake normal daily activities

  • ​Substantial: significant enough to impair daily tasks

  • ​Long term : duration of 12 months 

Mental health conditions which may lead to disability include: dementia, depression, bipolar, OCD, schizophrenia, self-harm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Education

It’s illegal to treat disabled students unfairly for example:

·         ‘direct discrimination’ - eg refusing admission to a student because of disability

·         ‘indirect discrimination’ - eg only providing application forms in one format that may not be accessible

·         ‘discrimination arising from a disability’ - eg a disabled pupil is prevented from going outside at break time because it takes too long to get there

·         ‘harassment’ - eg a teacher shouts at a disabled student for not paying attention when the student’s disability stops them from easily concentrating

·         victimisation – eg suspending a disabled student because they’ve complained about harassment

 

Other support and aids must also e provided by the education provider e.g. physical features (ramps) and aids (teachers/assistance)

 

 

Breaking the law 

 

Depending on the impairment, an individual has certain rights whilst being questioned/ interviewed within a police station 

 

 

Right to medical treatment

If the individual is being kept in a cell they have the right to paramedic, nurse or a police surgeon (sometimes referred to as a ‘Forensic Medical Examiner’)

 

 

 

Deaf, hearing, impaired speech

An interpreter must be present at the time of the interview unless a delay would result in harm to others

 

 

Learning disabilities

There must be an “appropriate adult” i.e. an individual that DOESN’T work for the police and has expertise in dealing with people who have learning disabilities. Again this may not be the case if a delay would have detrimental consequences

 

 

 

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