Access to work

Omgwam

Good morning

I have a chronic pain condition and a combination of the side effects of medication along with the pain meant my employers OH department had recommended in February that I continue to WFH full time (which all staff had done since covid) which I have been doing. The OH report confirmed that in their opinion I would fall under the equality act. The rest of my team went into the office once a week.

My employer decided a couple of months ago that we needed to be in the office 2-3 times a week. I referred to my earlier OH report but they requested an update and I’ve had an OH appointment today with a Doctor.

My employer asked them to comment on my ability to drive into work (an hour drive) and whether an alternative would be to get public transport (a 25 minute walk to get to the bus from home , 2 hour journey to my office town and another 25 minute walk from the bus stop to the office - so almost 3 hours each way).

The Dr is recommending I WFH full time indefinitely as it’s unlikely my condition will improve and I will be on medication indefinitely. She will state I cannot drive in and will say a 6 hour public transport commute is unreasonable and will make my condition worse with likelihood of resultant sickness absence).

She did however mention access to work may be able to support transport costs. Has anyone got experience of this? After posting before about the issues I’ve had with my employer I spoke to an employment solicitor who thought it very unlikely access to work would support costs as I can WFH as a reasonable adjustment (I have done so since covid and my colleagues WFH for over 2 years full time, then another 2 years with only 1 day in the office with a recent increase to 2 days in the office). I am physically able to use public transport but the OH Dr will say this is unreasonable due to the long journey time which will have a huge impact on my condition and subsequent attendance.

For info, I’ve worked for many years for my employer which is a very large organisation so I’d assume they’d be expected to contribute towards any taxi costs. I’ve had a look and a return trip is between £160 to £190 so very expensive! I do worry of the impact of an additional couple of hours travelling would have on my health even without the need to drive.

Many thanks