- Conference
- Police Staff Conference 2004
- Date
- 1 March 2004
- Decision
- Carried
This Police Staff Conference applauds the work undertaken by UNISON’s National Disabled Members Committee to promote negotiated agreements that make provision for Disability Leave. We are concerned that there is no adequate legislative provision to compel Police Authorities to disregard disability related absence and the consequence of this in relation to sickness absence procedures.
There is evidence from some branches that employers are taking punitive actions against disabled workers for absence related to disability and that their actions may have a significant effect on workers’ income, particularly in the case of members employed on shift contracts.
New provisions in disability discrimination legislation will create new rights for uniformed officers. Whilst we welcome initiatives to extend legislative protection to more disabled workers, we believe that police staff employers may review existing provision and economise reasonable adjustment provision in order to accommodate their new duties under the Disability Discrimination Act. It is imperative that UNISON’s Police Staff Service Group assists branches by providing guidance to secure non-discriminatory conditions at work as a model of best practice for those members who are already afforded protection by law.
Some UNISON branches have managed to secure new rights for disabled members regarding absence from the workplace by negotiating a separate category of leave called disability leave. This is kept separate from sick leave and covers any leave associated with a person’s disability. Disability leave should never have a maximum entitlement. Instead it should always be assessed in terms of what is reasonable and appropriate for the individual.
This Conference instructs the Police Staffs Service Group to seek information about disability leave agreements and evidence of punitive actions being taken by police authorities, in order that guidance can be issued to branches so that they can enter into negotiations to end disability discrimination against police staffs. The branch guidance should be dawn up in liaison with the National Disabled Members Committee.