Reasonable adjustments

Under the Equality Act 2010 employers are required to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ so that a person with a disability is not at a disadvantage compared to someone without a disability. You can ask about an employee’s health if it helps you to make reasonable adjustments.

If you ask questions that are not relevant to the job, or you use someone’s health as a reason for dismissing them, this could be discriminatory. 

Not everyone with epilepsy will need adjustments and any that are needed will vary depending on the person’s needs. Adjustments that may be helpful to consider for someone with epilepsy include: 

• making their workspace safer in case they have a seizure;
• avoiding lone working so that someone else can help if they have a seizure;
• exchanging some tasks of the job with another employee’s tasks;
• adapting equipment or providing equipment, or support, to help them do their job; and
• time off for medical appointments that is separate from sick leave (see below).

What is ‘reasonable’?

What is a ‘reasonable’ adjustment depends on the situation. Some general guidelines for working out what is reasonable include:

• how practical the adjustment is to make;
• how effective the adjustment would be; 
• how it might affect other employees; and
• the cost and your financial situation.

You will need to pay any costs for reasonable adjustments that are made. You may be able to get help with the cost through Access to Work or other schemes. See above for Access to Work.

You may also need to make adjustments if someone develops epilepsy while they are employed by you. 

It is worth remembering that some people’s epilepsy can change over time, for example if their seizures become controlled (stop happening). So the need for reasonable adjustments may change over time.

Other factors to consider

Seizure triggers

Some people know that particular situations  ‘trigger’, or bring on, their seizures. These can include being tired, stressed or anxious. If someone’s seizures are triggered by tiredness, shift work could make them more tired and trigger seizures. This is because shift work can disturb the normal pattern of sleep. A reasonable adjustment may be to consider changing or reducing shift work, or changing working hours for this person.

Working with computers

For most people with epilepsy, working with computers is not a problem. Up to 5% (5 in 100) of people with epilepsy have photosensitive epilepsy, where seizures are triggered by flashing or flickering lights, or by moving patterns.

Modern flatscreen computers do not flicker and so the screen itself is unlikely to trigger seizures. However, flashing images on the screen could be a photosensitive trigger for some people.

If an employee has photosensitive epilepsy, it may be helpful to discuss this with them directly.

Time off work

If someone’s epilepsy is controlled (they don’t have seizures) they are unlikely to need more time off work than other employees. If they still have seizures, the need for time off work will depend on the type of seizures they have and the time they need to recover. 

Time off work because of a disability, for example to attend a medical appointment or to recover from a seizure, could be considered a reasonable adjustment. It might be recorded separately to time off for other reasons (for example, sick leave for a cold).

Insurance and pension schemes

Employers’ Liability Insurance covers all employees in the workplace. However, you need to have made all reasonable efforts to ensure the safety of your employees, including individual risk assessments 
where needed. 

The Equality Act covers occupational pension schemes. This means that if a pension scheme is offered, all employees can join and must be treated fairly under the terms of the scheme.

Help and advice for employers

The following organisations can provide information and advice on employing people with disabilities and the Equality Act.

• Equality Advisory Support Service.
• Health and Safety Executive.
• Employers’ Forum on Disability.

See below for contact details.

Disability Confident employer scheme 

This is a government campaign to encourage employers to think differently about disability and to improve how they recruit, retain, and develop disabled people.

Epilepsy Society is grateful to Emily Peoples, HR Business Partner, Epilepsy Society, who reviewed this information.
 

Information updated: April 2024