- Conference
- 2011 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 15 July 2011
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
This Conference is concerned that there is no employment protection for staff who are critically ill and at risk of being made redundant due to government cuts. Critical illness is often related to a disability and there are further complications when a disabled person has a critical illness.
During this time of wide spread budget cuts and redundancies many employers are using interviews as a selection process when deciding who to make redundant. Staff who are critically ill or in the process of recovering from a critical illness are not exempt from the threat of redundancy and are severely disadvantaged if they have to compete with others to keep their job.
There have been cases where they have had to go through the same interview process as staff who are fit and well and more able to keep up to date with developments in the workplace. Not only could the extreme stress of possible redundancy affect an individual’s ability to recover but having or recovering from a critical illness can seriously impair an individual’s ability to prepare and perform within an interview selection process. This clearly puts them into a position of being disadvantaged and creates an inequality that needs to be addressed.
Employment law rightly protects women who are on maternity leave when redundancies are being considered. While we appreciate that not all disabled people could be offered this level of protection this conference feels it should be given to those who have or are recovering from a critical illness.
This Conference calls upon National Disabled Members Committee to:
1.Work with National Executive Committee to campaign for individuals having a critical illness to have the same employment protection rights as those individuals on maternity leave;
2.Lobby Government to introduce employment protection for people having a critical illness: and
3.Produce guidance for branches and regions on how they can use the Equality Act 2010 and in particular the duty to make reasonable adjustments to encourage employers not to use interview as part of the selection process for disabled people who have a critical illness.