DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT

The Disability Discrimination Act gives disabled people legal rights in the areas of buying or renting land or property, access to goods, facilities and services and in regards to fair treatment whilst in employment. The employment rights part of the legislation came into force on 2 December, 1996.

A disabled person is defined under the act as someone with "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." There is statutory guidance on matters relating to the definition of disability which can be purchased from HMSO.

The employment provisions within the Act apply to employers and include the requirement that employers must consider making reasonable structural changes premises that they occupy to cater for the disabled.

Unlawful Discrimination

An employer can unlawfully discriminate against a disabled employee or job applicant in the following two ways:

1. by treating a disabled person, without reasonable justification, less favourably than other employees or job applicants because of disability.
2. by not making, without justification, reasonable adjustments.

Elimination of Discrimination

HMSO publish a code of practice called "Elimination of discrimination in the field of employment against disabled persons or persons who have had a disability" which gives employers guidelines on the employment provisions of the Act, and a similar code of practice is also available which gives practical guidance on how trade organisations can prevent discrimination against disabled people.

New regulations came into force in October 1994 requiring permanent physical adjustments to business premises and is outlined in an HMSO publication called "Code of Practice - Rights of Access, Goods, Facilities, Services and Premises" . The new duties apply to service providers where physical features make access to their services impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people.

Employment Law

We are able to offer a wide range of employment law advice including :-

• unfair dismissal
• constructive dismissal
• redundancy
• racial discrimination
• sex discrimination
• racial harassment
• sexual harassment
• disability discrimination
• workplace bullying law
• compromise agreements
• appeals
• age discrimination
• victimisation
• equal opportunities
• discrimination through pregnancy
• transfer of undertakings
• working time regulations
• commercial agents
• religious discrimination
• discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation

Disability Discrimination Solicitors

If you believe you have a claim, it is important to get advice from an employment solicitor specialising in the field of disability discimination. If you would like advice from one of our panel solicitors just email our offices or send the contact form or telephone us on our helpline for a free initial consultation. If you have a viable case it will be dealt with using a risk free no win no fee arrangement. This means that if you dont get paid then your solicitor also doesnt get paid. Taking legal action in this way is totally without risk.