so the employment rights bill is being launched today:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-unveils-most-significant-reforms-to-employment-rights
Now it may be just me but I’ve noticed an issue with this (could just be me):
yearly ago (before I got disillusioned about even trying to find suitable work as a disabled person) in almost every job interview as soon as I mentioned I was autistic you could almost visualise the ‘roger rabbit shaped hole in the door’ with the employer figuring out how to end the interview asap
For me there were 3 reasons I’d actually get a job (personal experience with all 3):
- not actually mentioning I’ve got disabilities/health conditions
- employers think they can exploit the situation if they see you as vulnerable and not able to speak out (such as paying you less than fully able colleagues, less than minimum wage, pressuring you to work extra hrs - vulnerable ppl like disabled made easy targets for bullies when in school and sadly that situation crossed over into adulthood in my personal experience)
- You actually find an understanding employer (that sometimes has their own health conditions/disabilities - but could also just be a decent human being) - I’ve noticed this is more likely in professional job sectors (those requiring a qualification such as a specific degree compared to stereotypical working care job requiring no qualifications (eg….cleaner, care home staff, supermarket worker, fast food worker)
A family friend (who was a manager of a big firm) told me about 15 years back (so things may be different now) that you need to legally disclose in the interview stage if you have disabilities so down the line the said disabled employee can’t ‘blindside’ them and sue the business for disability discrimination or unacceptable treatment of employee (understandable as it’s much easier to offend if you don’t have all the info)
For that reason disabled employees are more of a legal minefield (as in theory we are more likely to sue compared to fully abled employees - in reality I’m not sure bcos as soon as you sue an employer it puts a black mark on your record, you can’t get a (good) reference from said past employer…….who wants to employ someone who sued the last place they worked? - I think the reality is disabled employees are less likely to speak out due to fear of repercussions). Also disabled employees cost more in terms of any reasonable adaptations & adjustments needed and also we are often (no fault of our own - health conditions and disabilities are all unpredictable in nature) not the most ‘reliable’ and often need more time off
To sum up it’s totally understandable how businesses (especially smaller ones with less staff but also big corps for different reasons) wouldn’t be so keen to hire a disabled employee
so the employment rights bill is a great things for workers however for many businesses it will make the prospect of hiring a disabled person over a fully abled compatriot even less desirable (unless employers intend to ignore employee legal rights)
For a labour government that have implied that they want significantly more disabled ppl working, this bill makes that aim significantly more difficult to achieve
(Unless there’s a major plan in the works to provide a truckload more help and resources in the job centre to help disabled set up their own business/become legit self employed………but that would require huge financial investment and a relook of the minimum income floor rules (currently a major deterrent in uc when considering self employed work) or even the time to consider minimum basic income if labours no 1 goal is to get more disabled into work over the potential welfare savings)
I believe this bill is the right thing for labour to introduce but they making their goals concerning disabled ppl and sickness welfare bill reduced much harder to achieve (at least if they don’t intend to break a multitude of human rights laws)
