Workplace audits uncover recruitment discrimination against disabled workers

Employers are less likely to have a positive approach towards employing a disabled person than they are to keep an existing employee who becomes disabled, according to a survey by the T&G general union.

The union, which has been carrying out disability audits in a range of workplaces, said it found that nearly half of the workplaces have a clear policy aimed at supporting any worker who becomes disabled. National organiser Diana Holland said: "In one workplace, the stores had been moved from the first floor to the ground floor to facilitate the return to work of a worker who had had a stroke." But she added: "However, only a handful had a positive policy aimed at recruiting disabled workers into jobs."

The survey also found that:

* two out of five workplaces do not have an equal opportunities policy with a commitment to equal opportunities for disabled people;

* almost three-quarters (71%) reported that while some disability access issues had been addressed, outstanding ones remained. Nearly one in seven said there was no disability access, though the same proportion said access is good; and

* the majority (85%) of workplaces did not have a disability leave policy.

Chair of the union's disability committee Sue Hines, said: "We now have T&G shop stewards in all the workplaces that have carried out an audit, setting action plans to achieve a fairer, more accessible working environment."