The Disability Discrimination Act

If an employee of a company has a disability, including a mental health difficulty or difficulties, they have a number of legal rights in the workplace.

The Disability Discrimination Act is an act of Parliament that guarantees by law the rights of people with disabilities to fair treatment.

This includes fair treatment in the workplace and in the process of securing employment.

The Disability Discrimination Act applies to all employers and everyone who provides a service to the public, except the Armed Forces.

The Disability Discrimination Act sets out both the rights of an individual and the obligations of others to meet them.

The definition defines a disabled person as “someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”.

Any employer is under a duty to make a reasonable adjustment where a provision, criteria or practice applied by the employer, or any physical feature of premises occupied by the employer, places a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage compared with people who are not disabled. No such “reasonable adjustment” duty is to be found in other anti-discrimination legislation.