Employment Equality Act 1998

Nature and extent of employer’s obligations in certain cases.

16

16.(1) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as requiring any person to recruit or promote an individual to a position, to retain an individual in a position, or to provide training or experience to an individual in relation to a position, if the individual—

(a) will not undertake (or, as the case may be, continue to undertake) the duties attached to that position or will not accept (or, as the case may be, continue to accept) the conditions under which those duties are, or may be required to be, performed, or

(b) is not (or, as the case may be, is no longer) fully competent and available to undertake, and fully capable of undertaking, the duties attached to that position, having regard to the conditions under which those duties are, or may be required to be, performed.

(2) In relation to—

(a) the provision by an employment agency of services or guidance to an individual in relation to employment in a position,

(b) the offer to an individual of a course of vocational training or any related facility directed towards employment in a position, and

(c) the admission of an individual to membership of a regulatory body or into a profession, vocation or occupation controlled by a regulatory body,

subsection (1) shall apply, with any necessary modification, as it applies to the recruitment of an individual to a position.

F33[(3) (a) For the purposes of this Act a person who has a disability is fully competent to undertake, and fully capable of undertaking, any duties if the person would be so fully competent and capable on reasonable accommodation (in this subsection referred to as appropriate measures) being provided by the persons employer.

(b) The employer shall take appropriate measures, where needed in a particular case, to enable a person who has a disability

(i) to have access to employment,

(ii) to participate or advance in employment, or

(iii) to undergo training,

unless the measures would impose a disproportionate burden on the employer.

(c) In determining whether the measures would impose such a burden account shall be taken, in particular, of

(i) the financial and other costs entailed,

(ii) the scale and financial resources of the employers business, and

(iii) the possibility of obtaining public funding or other assistance.]

(4) In subsection (3)

F34[appropriate measures, in relation to a person with a disability

(a) means effective and practical measures, where needed in a particular case, to adapt the employers place of business to the disability concerned,

(b) without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), includes the adaptation of premises and equipment, patterns of working time, distribution of tasks or the provision of training or integration resources, but

(c) does not include any treatment, facility or thing that the person might ordinarily or reasonably provide for himself or herself;]

employer” includes an employment agency, a person offering a course of vocational training as mentioned in section 12(1) and a regulatory body; and accordingly references to a person who has a disability include—

(a) such a person who is seeking or using any service provided by the employment agency,

(b) such a person who is participating in any such course or facility as is referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c) of section 12(1), and

(c) such a person who is a member of or is seeking membership of the regulatory F33[body. ]

F35[]

(5) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as requiring an employer to recruit, retain in employment or promote an individual if the employer is aware, on the basis of a criminal conviction of the individual or other reliable information, that the individual engages, or has a propensity to engage, in any form of sexual behaviour which is unlawful.

(6) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (5), that subsection applies in particular where the employment concerned involves access to minors or to other persons who are vulnerable.

Annotations

Amendments:

F33

Substituted (18.07.2004) by Equality Act 2004 (24/2004), s. 9(a) and (b), commenced on enactment.

F34

Inserted (18.07.2004) by Equality Act 2004 (24/2004), s. 9(b), commenced on enactment.

F35

Deleted (18.07.2004) by Equality Act 2004 (24/2004), s. 9(b), commenced on enactment.