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Who decides what is a reasonable adjustment?

The dilemma that many employers face when seeking to make reasonable adjustment for a member of staff who is disabled centres around whether it is the employers or employees opinion that matters when determining what is reasonable?

The recent case of Makuchova v Guoman Hotel Management (UK) Ltd has brought an element of relief to employers on this issue. The case involved a hotel supervisor who had been off work for health reasons for almost one year and refused to return even though the employer was willing to put in place reasonable adjustments which led to her employment being brought to an end.

At the Employment Appeal Tribunal they upheld the Employment Tribunal decision that decided that with reasonable adjustments in place, Ms Makuchova could have returned to her role as hotel supervisor. The point being that although Ms Makuchova wanted to undertake other roles in finance and sales and had even been interviewed for them, (unsuccessfully as she did not have experience or qualifcations), she could have resumed her substantive supervisor role because the employer has indicated and was prepared to make reasonable adjustment so as to allow the job to be undertaken.

The key message that comes out of this case is that if the employer undertakes an assessment process identifying and puts forward reasonable adjustments so as to enable a job to be undertaken, the employee should not unreasonably refuse to resume their duties.

The EAT pointed out that the obligation on the employer is to do what is reasonable and not always to accept what the employee believes is reasonable.