Reasonable adjustments (Epilepsy)

K3RT

Hey,

I have epilepsy and it was pretty much under control with meds until just under a year ago due to work stress (I work as a hca for the NHS)

I had a few months off and then after seeing occupational health I went back to work and they implemented the reasonable adjustments and a seizure plan the main things were no night shifts, no extra workload before this I was covering for upto 3 members of staff due to shifts not being picked up and staff absence and primarily weekend shifts due to there being a lot less stress at weekends and better staffing levels (on my ward the staffing levels in the week are very poor) also due to working on the weekend I was able to reduced my shifts from 3 to 2 a week up until the latest rota they have followed this perfectly I worked every Sunday and almost every Saturday with doing a weekday instead of a Saturday roughly once every 8 weeks.

About a month ago they changed how we was doing handover at the end of each shift this ment we was all finishing between 15 to 30 minutes late every shift and our ward manager stated we have to stay over for it and won't get paid because it's poor time management by the nurses (I'm not a nurse and couldn't go until they had all finished) after the first few times I complained as I was missing my taxis home which are pre booked for my access to work after asking that they change my finishing times to reflect the time I finished and stated if they want me to continue staying over to change my contract finishing time they changed the handovers back to the old way everyone was happy as it ment we all finished on time again.

Then the latest rota has just come out and on it I now have 1 Sunday 3 Saturdays and the rest as weekdays. I contacted the manager and asked why I wasn't on permenant Sundays anynote she apologised and said she will change it now but only change one Saturday to a Sunday.

I can't say for sure that my rota was changed because of me complaining but I can't see any other reason for it. Can they go against the reasonable adjustments they agreed to?

Thanks for any information/help

Rosie_Scope

Hi @K3RT, welcome to the community. Your workplace shouldn't be going against your established reasonable adjustments without speaking to you first. Is there anyone at work you'd feel comfortable talking to about the situation, perhaps your manager or the HR department? It's also usually quite helpful to get anything down in writing so that you have a record of what's happened in case you need to bring it up at any point.

If you're not sure what your rights are, ACAS can be very helpful. It might be worth getting in touch with them to see where you stand with your reasonable adjustments:

Acas | Making working life better for everyone in Britain

I hope our members will have some thoughts to share soon too. Fingers crossed everything works out okay for you.

AKR

The duty to make reasonable adjustments is an ongoing duty (and additionally isn't static).

The thing that jumps out the most about your post is your manager not engaging with occupational health about any of the changes to your rota. This is a pretty basic obligation your manager should have met, particularly with access to work being involved.

I wouldn't necessarily regard what you have said to your manager is a "complaint" - it is a fair and legitimate observation/concern.

I also wouldn't assume you have been victimised for making that observation. Sometimes, for a variety of reasons managers overlook things they should do/due process before implementing changes, although that isn't a valid excuse for your manager's omission.

My suggestion is you speak to your manager again and ask that occupational health are engaged in respect of your concerns. Ideally, it is also advisable to immediately send a follow-up email setting out your concerns - this way there can be no dispute you have raised the issue and the email also serves as a written record just in case your manager fails to act at all/ fails to act promptly.