A receptionist at a soft play centre has successfully sued her employer for £34,000 after her working conditions worsened her carpal tunnel syndrome.
The employee worked behind a desk which was designed to look like a boat which meant that she had to repeatedly reach down to a lower shelf to pick up a card payment machine, often up to 100 times per day. The employee had previously had surgery on both her arms to relieve the symptoms of her carpal tunnel and repeatedly raised her concerns. An occupational health assessment was eventually carried out but the recommendations were not followed through by the employer.
Despite soldiering on through fears of losing her job, the employee was eventually signed off sick and after suing her employer won just over £34,000 in compensation.
All employers owe a duty to disabled employees to make reasonable adjustments in the workplace. The delay in responding to her concerns and then ignoring the reasonable adjustments proposed by the occupational health assessment amounted to discriminatory conduct and led to this award. It is important therefore that once an employer is aware of a disability that they act promptly and take such action as is reasonable in all the circumstances, in this case, for example, by placing the card payment machine in a secure cradle on top of the desk.
Our Employment Law Team has extensive experience of advising clients in relation to disability discrimination and the requirement to make reasonable adjustments. Please do call one of our team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.