Analysis of Equality Act 2010 in Workplace Disability Cases

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report examines the legal aspects of business, focusing on employment law and disability discrimination.

LEGAL ASPECT OF BUSINESS
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
2. Legal.......................................................................................................................................3
The Equality act 2010 disability and cancer...........................................................................3
3. Assumptions...........................................................................................................................5
Recent case laws: Lofty v Hamas [2018] ..............................................................................6
Woman awarded in disability discrimination cases...............................................................7
Recommended suggestion......................................................................................................7
4. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................8
Reference list............................................................................................................................10
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1. Introduction
Legal aspects of the business are one of the perspectives of corporate law that aims at
preventing the criminality and other cases that are related to discrimination among workers in
a business organisation. This assessment has illustrated a scenario of an organisation that
manufactures shirts. The director of the company, Alex, runs the business with 20 employees.
Among all employees, most of them have been working for many years. This assessment has
discussed the legality of the situation when James, is one of the senior employees, fallen sick
for the past few days and thus, unable to continue his employment. Alex is now in a
quandary as to how to handle this circumstance because of employment law and its
implication. The assessment has discussed the legal perspective in this scenario and suggests
some of the essential legal advice and ways to Alex to deal with circumstances. All the
related issues and the enacted laws in this regard have been categorically illustrated.
2. Legal
Specific laws have been enacted in order to protect the rights of an employee at the
workplace in case of illness or any other disability.
The Equality Act 2010 disability and cancer:
According to this act protection for employees have been guaranteed in case of an
employee develops an illness that intends to make disability. According to this act, an
employee can be classed as a disabled in case the employee suffers some mental and physical
impairment (Waddington and Broderick, 2017). In the proposed scenario, James who is the
senior most employee among all the workers, have started taking the procedure of treatment
after fallen sick for the past four weeks. Hence, it can be said that the law grants the special
status to an employee in case of these sorts of situations or circumstances arises.
Section 4 of this act According to the act of equality 2010, it prohibits any discrimination
against the employees with some of the protected characteristics that include disability, age,
civil partnership and marriage, gender reassignment, maternity and pregnancy. The section
of this act enables the employees at the workplace to have the rights of equality in case of
disability and any other mental and physical illness. Section 6 of this act addressed a
disabled worker as a person with a disability (Allen and Kraakman, 2016).
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This state of disability can be addressed if a person has mental and physical impairment and
has long adverse effects on the ability to do endless activities. Section 15 of the act protects
the rights of an employee at the workplace for being the victim of the discrimination that is
primarily come from the disabling condition of physical and mental health. This section of
the equality act is prominent as it aims at protecting the social rights of an employee. It
includes some of the circumstances where a worker often discriminates against other
employees who are mentally and physically disabled (Vickers, 2016). Moreover, workers
who have a disability and treated unfavourably are entitled to get equal rights. Section 20 this
section states the meaning of duty for making appropriate adjustment. It also lists prominent
parts of the act that impose specific duties and its detailed schedules that stipulates the way
the proposed duty will be applied regarding each part. Three main requirements are mainly
comprised of the duty. These requirements apply where a worker with a disability is placed
and given disadvantage than the non-disabled worker. One of the first requirements of this
covers the module of things in which these are done. The second of the requirements intend
to make changes in order to make the environment.
Third requirements of these cover providing services and auxiliary bits of help. Section 21 of
the equality act influences that failure to adhere to the reasonable adjustment and its
requirements aims to rise discrimination against a person who has developed a disability and
has owned the duty. Section 23 of this act enables a partner who is often treated less
favourably in comparison to a person who is married in similar situations and circumstances
to make a claim that is for sexual discrimination. Section 26 of this act states the term
harassment (Anderman, 2015). According to these sections, there are three kinds of
harassments.
The first of these applies to describe protected characteristics other than maternity and
pregnancy, civil partnership and marriage that involve unfair conduct that is associated with
some of the appropriate characteristics and does have the impact of humiliating, hostile, and
degrading, or an environment that is offensive in nature of infringing the dignity of the
complainant. Another type of harassment is related to the sexual harassment that often takes
place in the workplaces (Paolella and Durand, 2016.). This is mainly for the female
employees who are the part of an organisation and engaged in doing the various duties that
are assigned. This kind of harassment always denigrates the dignity of a woman who loses
her faith in the business management of an organisation. The third kind of harassment is
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associated with the behaviour that aims to demean the dignity of a person by treating less
favourably. This can be called as one of the instances of discrimination with a disabled
person.
3. Assumptions
Business law can be termed as a corporate law that aims to provide the legal rights to all
those employees who have been working in different organisation. Such laws aim to prevent
discrimination and criminal activity specifically for those employees who are mentally or
physically disabled. It has been seen that most of the workplaces where there is a
considerable number of employees, an act of discrimination always prevails. This has created
the situation of uncertainty for employees to continue with employment. Laws that have been
enacted in this regard have the aim to provide equal rights at the workplace. This scenario has
also discussed the same circumstances (LeBaron and Rühmkorf, 2017). Alex, being the
owner of this business organisation is now in a quandary about employment law and its
implication. It is quite impossible for Alex to afford for the employment of James ever since
he has been admitted to the hospital.
James has undergone a battery of medical tests. It is suspected that James will diagnose with
Cancer. Although, this suspicion is merely a part of the speculation and it is being assessed as
per the medical complications of James and its ongoing effects. In such circumstances,
Employment law plays a crucial role to decide the next course of action (Mackie, 2017). This
is because employment law prohibits the dismissal and discrimination of an employee who
developed mental and physical and medical complications.
In this scenario, James, after serving the organisation for a long time, has developed some
medical complications that do not enable him to continue his employment at his workplace
further. Some points need to be critically considered. As per the situation, James has been
undergoing lots of medical tests that are the part of the medical procedure to detect the illness
he suffers too. James after being off four weeks at his workplace is getting his necessary
treatment and other necessary procedure (Tombs, 2018).
The point that needs to be considered here is that James is not yet diagnosed with any
particular disease such as Cancer. It is merely suspected that he may need diagnosis with
cancer as per his medical complications. There is no medical authentication in this regard that
James has cancer or any other of life-threatening disease. From the medical point of view, it
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is not necessary to suspect life-threatening diseases if a person suffer from numerous medical
complications (Wan, 2016). Mere symptoms do not wholly authenticate of having certain
life-threatening diseases such as cancer. However, it cannot be denied that an initial symptom
may be the cause of life-threatening diseases. In this scenario, there must be a medical
certification that states about a life-threatening disease such as Cancer that James suffers too.
There must be a medical certification based on initial symptoms of his medical complications
which certifies that he suffers from any particular disease that is life-threatening for him
(Campbell, 2015). The reason for being confused to deal with the circumstances is inevitable
as employment law does not allow the employer to make a unilateral decision. It has already
been mentioned that the laws in this regard aim to protect the rights of the employees
working in different organisations. Alex may need to examine the legislative clauses in the
enacted law.
According to the equality law 2010, when an employee who is diagnosed with any medical
complications that are life-threatening and progressive can be termed as a disabled. However,
in this scenario, James did not diagnose any particular diseases. Merely initial symptoms
were developed. This can be the reason for any disease that is progressive. Therefore, James
can be classed as a disabled person who is unable to carry out his duty regularly (Goldberg
and Lin, 2017). According to the law, James can be classed as a disabled person because of
his progressive medical complications and therefore, he is entitled to get his rights of
equality from his employer. However, it is also noted that the type of business his owner,
Alex runs is not able to afford his employment further. There are similar cases occurred in the
past which created such a dilemma. An example of the law case can be given in this regard.
Recent case laws: Lofty v Hamas [2018]:
Mrs. lofty was working as an assistant to a cafe. She followed some biopsy tests due to a
blemish on the cheek of hers. Later on, she developed a more medical complication in this
regard. Her complication was termed as precancerous that may result in skin cancer. Due to
her absence for the past few days from her workplace led her employer to terminate her
employment from the service she had been holding (Harpur, 2017). Later on, she claimed to
have discrimination for her disability and unfair dismissal from the workplace. She moved to
an Employment Appeal tribunal and appealed against this injustice. Initially, the tribunal
supported the claim of unfair dismissal but rejected the claim of discrimination and disability
under the equality act. This is because of the initial stage of her developed symptoms that
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were termed as precancerous. According to the act of equality, she has developed initial
symptoms of cancer, and based on this progressive stage of the illness, and a person can be
addressed as a disabled (Stolarczyk, 2016).
Woman awarded in disability discrimination cases:
One more recent case of the discrimination can be given as a woman Ms McLaughlin who
was the victim of the discrimination got rewarded. Charles Hurst, an owner of a car firm,
discriminated against this woman under the act of disability. The woman had requested to
reduce the working hour of hers due to mental illness she suffered too. Her request to reduce
the working hours for her took around 14 months. Tribunal, in this case, had found the time
was immensely long. It had been later clarified that the car firm did not engage in this kind
of activity (Harwood, 2016).
The woman was employed by this firm since 2012 and had been working in this
organisation. However, she started making absence because of her health that was
deteriorating. Therefore, this situation has led her to request to reduce the time of working
hours. The woman also cited his medical complications by which she was forced to do so.
The tribunal considered this case of discrimination more vulnerable. Later, the woman
employee of that car firm Ms McLaughlin was rewarded in this case of discrimination
(Ruggs, et al. 2015).
Recommended suggestion:
There is some following suggestion that can be given to Alex in this scenario.
● The first among the suggestions deal with employment law that grants the rights to an
employee at the workplace (McAllister et al. 2015). The law was enacted in order to
grant equal rights and prevent discrimination against disabled employees. In this
scenario, James, who is one of the senior employees of the firm fallen sick and
suffered multiple medical complications. Alex, the owner of the firm must consider
the legality of the situation. This may also include the labour and equality law that
have a different clause for the workers at the workplace.
● As per the scenario, it is crystal clear that Alex had no intention of doing any
discrimination. He is well aware of the fact and reason by which James is unable to
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carry out his employment (Wahab and Ayub, 2016). There is no point of
discrimination. He must consider the medical authentication of his employee as it has
been mentioned earlier that minor initial complications may not be the reason to have
a particular disease that is life-threatening. Therefore, it must be ensured with all
medical authentications that either James had diagnosed with cancer or any other
disease.
● Alex must consider a large amount of money to James as compensation and all other
amounts that an employee is entitled to get. Paying a one-time large amount to James
will reduce the financial instability of the organisation. It is quite evident with the
medical complications that James will not be able to continue his work as per the
medical condition (Grover and Piggott, 2015). It is also clear now that James may
diagnose with any life-threatening diseases as per his medical complication.
● According to the scenario, the company has not become insolvent at this juncture.
The company is merely facing extra financial expenditure. According to the
employment law, a company cannot make unfair dismissal to an employee. In this
scenario, the owner of the company can extend the leave period of the employees and
can pay up an additional amount (Cleveland et al. 2015). Alex may consider this
option to extend the date of leave based on health conditions and medical
certification.
● As per the employment law of the company, the owner of the company, cannot make
the procedure of unfair dismissal as it will be treated as a discriminative decision
against the employee who is suffering to multiple medical complications and life-
threatening diseases (Allen, 2018). In order to face the situation of the financial crises
in the company, Alex may stop paying regularly; rather he must pay him as original
large compensation amount from the exchequer.
4. Conclusion
It can be concluded that Alex being the owner of a manufacturing business organisation must
follow the due course that had set specific guidelines and regulation for the employability and
employee. This assessment has described the different sections of the equality act 2010 and
other related case laws of the discrimination with this scenario. Sound advice that can be
given after the illustration of the different legal sections and various perspective of the law is
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to pay up one original amount to James who is undergoing plenty of medical tests. This will
also prevent the perception of discrimination. This assessment has discussed all the different
perspectives of the laws and recommended suggestions that aim to give legal advice to Alex
with all reference of employment law.
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