We are a retail store and one of our managers is seeking a permanent reduction in her working hours. She is employed on a full time basis but reduced hours have been facilitated for her for approximately 18 months to assist her recovery from treatment for breast cancer. She has requested that this reduction become a permanent working arrangement.

It is difficult to permit reduced working hours for management staff on a permanent basis, as we have a small management team who are required to cover 6-7 days’ trading per week, including late nights. Managers have struggled without her working full-time, and there is currently a recruitment ban within the company.

Can we insist on this manager returning to work full time?


Sharon Mc Ardle from the Employment team at Tughans writes:


The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of disability. It also imposes a duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments for employees who satisfy the legal definition of a “disabled person”, and a failure to comply with the duty to make reasonable adjustments is a form of disability discrimination in itself.

Employees with cancer are deemed to be disabled for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 from the point of diagnosis. Employees are also protected against discrimination in respect of past disabilities, and so even if the employee has recovered, she is still protected by this legislation.

This means that the Company is under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to any provision, criterion or practice (PCP) putting her at a substantial disadvantage compared to persons who are not disabled. The reasonable adjustments duty is primarily concerned with enabling disabled people to remain in employment (or return to work) and to enable them to play a full part in the world of work.

For the past 18 months the Company has made an adjustment to the employee’s working hours. If the company now wish to refuse her request for permanently reduced working hours, it would need to demonstrate why such an adjustment is no longer reasonable.

The Act specifically states that altering a disabled person’s working hours will be a reasonable adjustment. A permanent reduction in her working hours will likely be a reasonable adjustment for the Company to make.

The employer may wish to seek independent medical advice in relation to the employee’s condition and its effect on her ability to work full-time, and whether or not a permanent reduction in her working hours to 27 hours per week would be a reasonable adjustment for the employer to make in view of her condition.

Whilst there is currently a ban on recruitment, if it is absolutely necessary for the employee’s role to be covered on a full-time basis, the employer should consider whether or not it would be feasible to appoint another manager part-time. Although this will increase the Company’s headcount by one, it should be of minimal additional cost to the Company overall compared to the cost of paying the employee to work on a full time basis, and will reduce the impact of the adjustment on the Company’s operations.

Should the employer insist on the employee returning to work full-time (either without the benefit of medical opinion or contrary to what such medical opinion recommends), the employer is at risk of claims for Disability discrimination by a failure to make reasonable adjustments, disability related discrimination and constructive/unfair dismissal.