Telephone Use: Reasonable Adjustment for Deaf Workers, Landmark Judgment

A 40 year-old deaf man from Grantham who was refused a job because of his disability has won his fight to prove he was the victim of discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in a landmark case. Mark Keane won £7,436 in damages.

According to the Disability Rights Commission (DRC), which acted for Mr Keane, this is the first case involving a deaf person discriminated against at work because no adjustments were made to allow him to avoid telephone work.

Mark Keane was interviewed for a job as a part-time medical records clerk for Lincolnshire Hospital NHS Trust. He did not succeed in his application because he was unable to answer incoming calls.

The employment tribunal in Nottingham decided that the job tasks could have easily been rearranged so that he did not have to answer the phone. And answering the phone was not a major part of the job. Lincolnshire Hospital NHS Trust was found to be in breach of Section 6 of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in this case.

Mr Keane was placed at a "substantial disadvantage in comparison with other non-disabled persons by reason of his hearing impairment." It was the duty of the employer to make reasonable adjustments that would have overcome or reduced his problems regarding the telephone and yet, despite Mr Keane’s own suggestions, no action was taken. Adjustment to the job duties could have been made without any great inconvenience or expense on the part of the Trust.
This document is for general guidance and research purposes only, and does not purport to give professional advice. Please check the date at the top of the article; the Workplace Law Network retains historic articles for general research.