Employer denying disability (5+ years after making reasonable adjustments for me) Why?

Raindrop

Hi everyone, I am new here and really upset that many many years after I declared my disability at work and reasonable adjustments were made for me my work have denied all knowledge of my disability. I'm at my wits end trying to prove that they knew because they have no paperwork (neither do I as I spoke my manager at the time - I trusted her, she made the adjustments and I thought no more of it). Fast forward and I have resigned after been treated very differently by a new manager. I am claiming constructive dismissal but my place of work say they have no paperwork and no way of asking the manager if she passed on my information as they have now left. Any suggestions? Raindrop : (

Raindrop

Thank you for your supportive message. I know they will do the right thing but only if I can prove it. They have a fabulous disability policy so so that makes it ok  ; )

Raindrop

* though 

wkd

Raindrop said:

Hi everyone, I am new here and really upset that many many years after I declared my disability at work and reasonable adjustments were made for me my work have denied all knowledge of my disability. I'm at my wits end trying to prove that they knew because they have no paperwork (neither do I as I spoke my manager at the time - I trusted her, she made the adjustments and I thought no more of it). Fast forward and I have resigned after been treated very differently by a new manager. I am claiming constructive dismissal but my place of work say they have no paperwork and no way of asking the manager if she passed on my information as they have now left. Any suggestions? Raindrop : (

I am assuming you are probably taking them to an Employment tribunal and they have denied knowledge of your disability which is very convenient.  When did you declare your disability, was it before commencement or during work? 
Did they have Occupational Health involved, did you hand in any sick notes to them (could be used as evidence)?  Normally there will be a trail of evidence that they can't cover up such as an Occupational Health Assessment or internal emails discussing your reasonable adjustments.

  You can also use whats app messages, SMS or personal emails to your friends and family discussing work and how they made adjustments for you also as evidence.  It's hard I know but you have to play them at their own game. You can ask them for a Subject Access Request asking for every email mentioning you, it's a free service and should be with you within 4 weeks.

 Some companies try to heavily redact information and some companies don't give you all the information as there might be many emails, so what you would need to do is try to focus on the dates when you asked for Reasonable Adjustments so that they can't say that your request is unreasonable. Perhaps also focus on later emails when they said they did not know about your disability because what they say isn't always what they know.  Bear in mind if you haven't filed to the ET you have around 90 days to file. I don't know exactly the time frame so perhaps look it up, it might be 90 days minus 1. Hope that helps and good luck.

Raindrop

Yes, I am taking them to ET, you are right. I'm aware of the time frame but wasn't aware at the time but to be honest, they made adjustments before but then denied knowledge. It's a tricky one as I got on with my manager and she made the changes to support me. Years later another manager hasn't and I'm stating that they should have known. They are disputing it. I have filed for ET and have hearing next week. Not sure what to expect at all or how to prepare... It would be good to have some idea. 

wkd

Raindrop said:

Yes, I am taking them to ET, you are right. I'm aware of the time frame but wasn't aware at the time but to be honest, they made adjustments before but then denied knowledge. It's a tricky one as I got on with my manager and she made the changes to support me. Years later another manager hasn't and I'm stating that they should have known. They are disputing it. I have filed for ET and have hearing next week. Not sure what to expect at all or how to prepare... It would be good to have some idea. 

They should have known from the date you told the new manager. It doesn't have to be at the beginning of your employment, if you have any emails exchanged with your new manager then you should use them. You should have sent a letter or email at the time stating that you were unhappy with them not making reasonable adjustments. I think there is a template letter which has a heading failure to make reasonable adjustments, but don't worry if you didn't as you can't be expected to know employment laws. You could call your old boss to be a witness and they aren't allowed to lie on oath. 

 They will dispute it, first, they will dispute that you have a disability then they will say well we didn't know, it seems to be a matter of course that they use to defend any liability.

I am assuming it is probably a PH you are having which discusses the outline of the case the judge has an obligation as do solicitors to help a layperson around the complexities of a hearing. If you are on Facebook there is a great group that discusses ET and the process and what to expect.

Raindrop

Shouldn't they have known from the date I told my first manager?

Raindrop

You say they have a duty to help me but I feel they are trying to trip me up by saying give us this information and then saying it wasn't what they actually wanted. If they made it clear to me what they wanted, I would give them that. Please could you let me know the name of the FB group you are referring to?

wkd

@Raindrop exactly what I said, they should have an audit trail when you told the first manager, which normally is in their computer systems. You need to ask for a Subject Access Request (SAR)  to find out the information they hold on you  They do have a Duty of Care and a duty to make Reasonable Adjustments like they did with your first manager. Ignorance on their part is not a defence.   Here is the link for the Facebook link https://www.facebook.com/groups/168131053950265

Hannah_Alumni

Hello @Raindrop

I am so sorry that they haven't been supportive and that with this situation, you felt you had to leave your job. I would also advise reaching out to Citizen's Advice and if you are part of a union, to speak to them. 

Raindrop

I have reached out to Citizen's Advice and various other places that are meant to help but they are over worked or just have volunteers who don't now any more than me and a laptop with google on it). Calling these places was a waste of time in my opinion and my time would have been better spent researching online. Other people may have had a different experience but that was mine. 

Hannah_Alumni

I'm so sorry they were not helpful @raindrop Please keep us updated with the Employment Tribunal.