Moving to a new office - access issues

crushedvelvet

My workplace are moving us to a new office. I have mobility issues which make walking distances painful, getting up and down stairs takes a lot of effort and causes alot of pain. It's obvious to watch me that I'm having trouble and it's embarrassing.

The office I work from now has a lift, and disabled parking very close by. The new office has no lift so I would need to get up and down stairs, there is also very limited parking. I've shared these difficulties and just been told to take my time on the stairs, and to park in a nearby street and take my time walking back - could be a 10-15 minute walk, but I also can't be late for work either. I have also been told my hours will change. Instead of working 8-3 I will be working 2-8. I will struggle to stay awake until 8pm and this will mess with my evening meditation. Part of my condition is extreme tiredness, mostly affecting me after 5pm when the day catches up with me. Going back to bed is not an option once I have got kids to school as the pain has kicked in cos I'm awake.

I don't feel like I'm being listened to. It's not a big issue to my employer but to me these are big obstacles in the way of a job IL struggle to do once the changes are made. They say it's in my contract that they can make these changes so basically it's tough, leave. We are call centre staff and obviously not valued.

crushedvelvet

Not meditation - I have evening medication to take.. ooops

MW123

@crushedvelvet

While your contract may permit changes to your working hours and location, these changes must be reasonable and should not place you at a significant disadvantage compared to employees without disabilities.

While working from home could be considered, the difficulty of staying awake until 8:00 PM makes this option less suitable for you. It is essential that you firmly request to maintain your current working hours due to how your disability affects you in the evening, and most importantly, secure a ground floor office in the new location.

Regarding parking, you might want to check if there are any "no return within one hour" parking bays available near your new office. Disabled badge holders can park all day in these bays without time limits, as long as they display their Blue Badge. If such bays are not available, you should inform your employer that you will need to park on yellow lines, which would require you to leave the office periodically to comply with parking regulations. In my office, we have two disabled staff members who occasionally need to do this during their workday if they cannot secure a "no return within one hour" parking spot on arrival at the office. This arrangement works well and should not be an issue for your employer.

You might also consider submitting a formal grievance to your employer, outlining your concerns and the impact these proposed changes could have on your health and ability to work. Given your mobility issues, which likely qualify as a disability under the Equality Act 2010, your employer has a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate your condition. Their failure to do so could constitute disability discrimination. It is important to emphasise that your request is not merely a personal preference but a matter of health.

Rosie_Scope

Hi @crushedvelvet, welcome to the community. Sorry you've having to deal with the stress of this office move, it doesn't sound ideal. MW123 has given some great answers there already. Are your employers aware of your disabilities? If so, they should be making adjustments for you so you can access your work without impacting your conditions.

There are a couple of pages that might be useful to read through on the Scope website, one about your rights regarding reasonable adjustments:

Reasonable adjustments at work | Disability charity Scope UK

And another about what you can do should your workplace fail to offer you the reasonable adjustments you need:

Failure to make reasonable adjustments and making complaints | Disability charity Scope UK

If you're discussing your access needs with your manager or HR department, it's always a good idea to get things down in writing should you need it as evidence later on. It might also be worth getting in contact with ACAS. They should hopefully be able to advise you on your rights and might be able to talk you through the best way forward:

Acas | Making working life better for everyone in Britain

Hope you can get things sorted without too much more stress!