Changing reasonable adjustments could be discriminatory

When the Trust removed the extension, it did introduce other adjustments to the claimant’s workload and hours instead. However, the EAT found that the Tribunal had been entitled to conclude that there had been a failure to make reasonable adjustments because the new measures had not ameliorated the disadvantage faced by the claimant, or only did so to a limited extent. The Trust had failed in its duty by not providing the reasonable adjustment that was actually capable of ameliorating the disadvantage – the extension to the policy

This leaves employers in a challenging position. An adjustment that is considered reasonable at a particular point in time cannot automatically be treated as reasonable indefinitely, but this case shows that any changes will need to be well thought through – particularly where the adjustment appears to be working well from the perspective of the disabled employee. If an employer needs to make alternative arrangements, it should be on the basis that the previous adjustments have genuinely ceased to be reasonable and any new adjustments are just as effective.