Welcoming and supporting employees with disabilities policy

11 Dec 2024

J D Wetherspoon plc – Welcoming and supporting employees with disabilities policy

Summary of the document

This policy provides details of the various support available to job applicants and employees who have a disability, in compliance with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.

Policy/procedure – full details

This policy provides details of the various support available to job applicants and employees who have a disability, in compliance with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.

Wetherspoon is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities are supported and encouraged to apply for employment, and to progress in the company if they wish to do so. Every reasonable effort will be made to enable people with disabilities to be recruited and retained, by making investigations and implementing reasonable adjustments.

This policy applies to job applicants, employees, contractors, consultants and anyone else acting on behalf of Wetherspoon, in any pub, hotel or at head office.

Where an identifiable need arises to assist customers in a pub or hotel, similar principles also extend to the service of customers.

A disability is defined as ‘a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’.

Some disabilities are immediately obvious, for example use of a wheelchair, while other disabilities may not be apparent at all, for example HIV infection. Some conditions are not considered to be disabilities, for example poor eyesight or addiction to alcohol or other substances.

Examples of adjustments could include the following:

• providing literature in large print
• adapting the interview situation, for example removing movable barriers such as furniture, holding the interview in a different wheelchair-accessible room or allowing the meeting to take place online
• allowing a guide dog or assistance dog into the workplace
• purchasing specialist equipment, such as an ergonomic chair
• discounting disability-related sickness leave for the purposes of absence management
• providing additional supervisory guidance/support
• including an accessible parking space in the car park
• allowing different start and end times to the working day

Employee’s responsibilities

Employees should:

• notify the company immediately of any changes, or foreseeable changes, to the nature of their disability and any possible impact in the workplace. This includes, but is not limited to, alerting the company to a need for reasonable adjustments if, or when, required.
• co-operate with any workplace assessment to determine the scope and practicability of any reasonable adjustments to their job or working environment.
• notify the company immediately if they are diagnosed as having a medical condition which might be classed as a disability – now or in the future. This could place them at a substantial disadvantage compared with others, and it may mean that they require adjustments or assistance in the workplace.
• contact a personnel team member if they feel that they are being treated unfavourably and/or no discussions about reasonable adjustments have taken place. 
• co-operate with a ‘request for consent’ to refer to an occupational health adviser for guidance on managing their condition or to write to their GP or specialist about their condition.

Company’s responsibilities

The company will ensure that:

• recruitment and selection criteria, along with job descriptions, are based on ability and do not include unnecessary requirements which may exclude disabled people who could do the job.
• reasonable adjustments to work practices and equipment are made, as necessary, to enable disabled people to take up employment or be retained if they become disabled.
• all employees involved in the recruitment and selection decisions receive training in disability awareness and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) awareness.
• disability awareness and EDI awareness are included in induction training.
• training is provided on managing specific conditions, where this is identified as desirable or beneficial.
• employees with disabilities receive the same opportunities as others to develop and progress in the company.

Management guidance

The Equality Act 2010 imposes a positive duty on employers to make all ‘reasonable adjustments’ in the workplace to prevent disabled people being substantially disadvantaged by a workplace feature or arrangement compared with people who are not disabled.

Employers are under a duty to remove any substantial disadvantage employees are put under by a provision, criteria or practice in the workplace, by making a reasonable adjustment. 

Failure to comply with this duty or to not give adequate justification for what action is or is not taken is automatically unlawful under the Equality Act 2010. 

Managers may be held personally liable for discrimination against individuals if they treat them less favourably than other people because they thought the individuals were disabled, regardless of whether that perception was correct.

Managers must:

• Make adjustments which are reasonable. The cost and practicability of making an adjustment may be relevant in deciding what is reasonable. 
• Discuss circumstances with employees, ask for their suggestions and establish what is needed. It is not mandatory to comply with every request disabled people have. The issue is what can reasonably be done to avoid any disadvantage caused by an employee’s disability.