Disability discrimination and the workplace
Understand your rights at work: how disability discrimination laws protect employees and what reasonable adjustments employers must provide.
Summary
Employers must offer equal employment opportunities to everyone including people living with disability.
What should employers do?
Employers must offer equal employment opportunities to everyone. This means that if a person with a disability can do the essential activities or 'inherent requirements' of a job, he or she should have just as much chance to do that job as anyone else.
Employers should choose the best person for the job, whether that person has a disability
or not. They should make this decision based on a person's ability to perform the essential activities of the job. They should not make assumptions about what a person can or cannot do because of a disability.
Workplace adjustments for employees
If a person with a disability is the best person for the job, then the employer must make workplace adjustments if that person needs them to perform the essential activities of the job.
In most cases the person with disability will be able to tell the employer what is needed. If necessary, employers should also seek advice from government
agencies or organisations which represent or provide services to people with disability.
Examples of workplace adjustments
- Changing recruitment and selection procedures: For example, providing a sign
language interpreter for a deaf person. - Modifying work premises: For example, making ramps, modifying toilets, providing flashing lights to alert people with a hearing loss.
- Changes to job design, work schedules or other work practices: For example, swapping some duties among staff, regular meal breaks for a person with diabetes.
- Modifying equipment: For example, lowering a workbench or providing an enlarged computer screen.
- Providing training or other assistance:For example, induction programs for staff with a disability and co-workers, mentor or support person for a person with an intellectual disability, including staff with a disability in all mainstream training.
What if changes are too difficult for the employer?
The Act does not require workplace changes to be made if this will cause major difficulties or unreasonable costs to a person or organisation. This is
called 'unjustifiable hardship'.
Before considering claiming that adjustments are unjustified, employers need to:
- thoroughly consider how an adjustment might be made
- discuss this directly with the person involved
- consult relevant sources of advice.
If adjustments cause hardship it is up to the employer to show that they are unjustified.
