Hi smokejumper, sorry for late reply, my employer was instructed by the tribunal to determine whether my disability was covered by the act... I was asked to provide evidence to the respondent and to the tribunal regarding my disability and the respondent was give an allotted time to make a decision. I'm assuming they will take have taken a legal point of view based on the evidence I have provided... but I can only make an assumption. Is this something you are faced with currently at the moment? steampowered provided some great links in earlier post that are worth a read. Don't hesitate to ask about anything else I'm more than happy to help where I can

Cheers billybobynumeroduo! you have certainly put my mind at rest and been very helpful and I can't thank you enough. My case is now scheduled for next year now, so I think I'll take the time to focus on the points you mentioned. And I agree, discrimination is terrible regardless of circumstance.

HI Emmzzi, no I agree they did not refuse because of my disability, It was based on my working hours... which was unreasonable due to the fact I worked during 'core' hours and people I worked alongside received training regardless. UPDATE! the respondent today conceded that I meet the criteria of a disabled person under the Equality Act. I became disabled in 2008 essentially and they where aware of this then... the refusal of training is only one aspect of them aggrevating my illness. My illness recurred due to a pay dispute a year prior, I moved to a new role with new employees to the company... They advertised a salary that was higher then my current one and I trained with the new employees before starting. During training I was advised that I would remain on my lower salary as an existing employee, but the new starters would receive the advertised wage. I then spent the majority of my training following the informal grievance process and then resolved the issue... or so I thought. I was informed a week into my new role that I wouldn't receive it as higher management wouldn't agree and I was told I would have to prove my worth to the company to get it, hearing this after 6 years service was devastating. I lodged a formal grievance and again was successful but this time after 3 months. Due to stress and anxiety I was signed off from work during this. This led on to me feeling behind in my role and needing training etc to get up to speed. I feel though whole thing snowballed from the pay dispute... The claim it self is based on failure to provide reasonable adjustments... I don;t think they caused my disability, but they certainly added to it. They where aware of my disability during the whole process, and they failed to act in reasonable time to make adjustments. Emmzzi if you still feel it is the wrong way round could elaborate more... I am interested on your view as up to this point it has not been brought forward by anybody else (outside forums etc) Thanks

Hi steampowered, thank you for the links above, I am fully expecting to be challenged over whether I have a disability within the meaning of the Equality Act. I have been asked by the tribunal to provide evidence to meet the test to see if I would fall under this already and I am awaiting a response today from the respondent with an updated response to my claim. I am fairly confident that I do fall under the Equality Act regarding my depression. I see your point regarding my dismissal but my refusal to return to work was based on my current health... yes I could physically walk in to my place of work, but my mental health wouldn't allow me to perform to the standard that would be expected of me. I don't see how that can be used against me, although I understand they will attempt to do so. Do you think it is expectable to refuse or limit training to someone who works part time? whilst knowing that they have concerns over areas of their work that could be easily addressed with training that is offered to other employees and aware this could have an adverse effect on a recurring longterm illness for an employee? And in term of providing evidence towards me not being able to return to the work place at the time of the offer being made, I have a medical report that was done by their Occupational Health GP stating I could not be expected to return to work any earlier than after 3 months of the report being done, which was a week prior to my dismissal. I agree they are dificullt roadblocks but I feel I can overcome them. Again thank you for your input steampowered.

yes... after 6 months of me trying to arrange reasonable adjustments with my employer they made an offer to which I rejected. In fairness I'm not surprised I was dismissed, nor did I expect to be kept on the pay-role because I declined. What my claim is based on is worked related incidents that put me in a substantial disadvantage to a non-disabled person. my employer knew I suffer with depression prior to those incidents and when addressed they did nothing, even though they agreed it would be best to do so. During my absence I was in constant contact and they said they would address the issues and make adjustments, to which they didn't until after 6 months. My health deteriorated to a point where I couldn't see a return being possible so I rejected. I feel that my dismissal could have been avoided if they acted sooner and followed the advice given to them by their occupational health GP's, my own GP and even followed their own recommendations. Prior to my dismissal I had a meeting with their Occ Health GP who stated to them that a return would not be feasible for a further 3 months. They wanted my return to be imminent. When my absence first occurred, their Occ Health GP stated that I could return within 3 weeks as long as adjustments were in place within a timely manner. All I asked for was training so I could feel competent in my role, which is available to every employee but they stated my part time shift wouldn't allow this. I don't feel me declining the adjustments after 6 months of trying to resolve the issue has an overall effect on my claim. If it did, why hasn't this been flagged by the respondent or even the tribunal sooner?

Emmzzi... can you explain why you see a claim for injury? also do you think you could re-read my posts again in order to answer your own questions?

Hi Emmzzi & steampowered, My claim was adjusted at the recommendation of the tribunal to disability discrimination and I was asked to provide evidence that my disability met the required test... to which I am awaiting an updated response from the respondent. I feel that having to wait 6 months for adjustments to be made is not fair in this instance, I was an employee for 7 years and for 3 months prior to my absence I was being let down with training etc that was promised but never actioned. they were aware of my health, which was one reason why they agreed to implement the training. In total they had 9 months but failed to action anything, they had advise from their occupational health doctors advising that they should action something early to facilitate a return. I rejected because my health had deteriorated to a degree where I couldn't return back to work, the lack of 'faith' being another point but not the sole reason, but a fair point... why should I have any faith in their promises when they had failed to deliver the previous 9 months. I never refused to come to work... I was unable to due to my health, that had deteriorated due to my employers actions.

It's a large mobile telecoms company, cost of training I couldn't say. The training that I requested is the standard training offered to all employees. They agreed to implement it, but never did and used my part time flexible working hours as the excuse and stated I would need to change my shift in order for them to accommodate the training needs.

Hi Emmzzi... It's a limited company, the adjustments asked for where training and coaching to be guaranteed to fill knowledge gaps and help development. Whilst at work I raised my concerns about knowledge gaps etc and that I wanted to address them so I could perform better in role. They agreed but failed to deliver which subsequently had an adverse effect on my health/disability. Hope that helps

Hi Everyone... I am currently in the process of handling an ET case for disability discrimination. My case is based on DD failure to make reasonable adjustments. I was dismissed for long term absence due to my illness, which I claim was due to employer. I was under-trained for a new role and raised this to which this was not acted upon and no training or coaching was implemented based upon my part time hours and they said I would have to change working hours to change this. I subsequently went off work for health reasons, had numerous Occ Health reports done with advice to employer but not acted upon. 6 months later I was offered adjustments that could be made but declined due to my deteriorated health and faith in my employer. I was then sacked 10 mins later. It is nearly a year since my dismissal. So far I have had two CMD's (phone and in person) and just recently due to the last CMD had orders made to both myself and the respondent. I have had to and have done an updated case based on DD - failure to make reasonable adjustments, to which the tribunal had ordered the respondent to notify if interested in mediation a week later (1st November) and then to provided an updated response (15th November). The respondent has not replied to myself as the tribunal had ordered and I contacted the respondent (copy sent to tribunal) but have yet to receive a response. Now... today I received a letter from the tribunal stating they cannot offer mediation as consent was not received from both parties. I'm now awaiting their updated response to get a better idea of their stance on the case. My question for help or guidance is if anyone else has experienced similar? is waiting 6 months for reasonable adjustments acceptable? when its for guaranteed training? also their failure to comply with orders, is this something to be taken seriously? they have continuously postponed dates of orders that have been made previously also. Many Thanks for taking the time to read my post