What’s the answer? Dyslexia: Verifying the condition

Annie Hayes

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What’s the answer? Dyslexia: Verifying the condition

By Annie Hayes

This week Nicholas Snowden, senior solicitor at Clarkslegal LLP and Stephanie Wooton, employment law expert at Browne Jacobson present their ideas on ways to authenticate dyslexia.

The question:
In an assessment centre situation what policy do people adopt when confronted with candidates who claim to be dyslexic: e.g. do they insist on evidence (Educational Psychologist’s report perhaps); or simply make allowances such as giving extra time for written exercises, and hope that the candidate really deserves such consideration?
Alec Thomas

The answers:
Nicholas Snowden, senior solicitor at Clarkslegal LLP

I think either approach is legitimate, but consistency will be the key whichever approach you choose to take.

To implement a policy that requires applicants to provide evidence of dyslexia, applicants will need to be made aware of this requirement as soon as possible, so that they can comply with the requirement without slowing down the recruitment process unduly.

The main types of evidence which will be accepted by the company will also have to be clearly defined although, to avoid unhelpful rigidity, I would also state in the policy that the company reserves the right to accept other evidence of dyslexia in its entire discretion.

The alternative (i.e no such policy) allows greater flexibility and creates no delays in the recruitment process nor any administrative burden, which might result from having a policy requiring evidence. However, it does create the potential for applicants without dyslexia to obtain more time to complete certain tests by claiming to suffer from the condition.

If the time allowed for tests for those without dyslexia is already generous, the granting of extra time for those claiming to have dyslexia may not give much of an advantage to the few who might be tempted to deceive you.

If this is the case, granting extra time may not be a big issue. By contrast, if time spent doing the test is an important element of the assessment (i.e there is a business need relating to the specific job being applied for, to see how the applicant performs under time-pressure), the granting of more time could be a more contentious issue and a policy requiring evidence of dyslexia might be the best solution.

Nicholas Snowden can be contacted at nsnowden@clarkslegal.com

Stephanie Wooton, employment law expert, Browne Jacobson.

Dyslexia may be considered a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, which defines disability as a ‘physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’.

The DDA applies to job applicants as well as existing employees and workers. Actual or potential employers must not treat a disabled person less favourably on the grounds of, or for a reason related to, the disability.

It may be legitimate to ask to see evidence of a disability which is not obvious, although you should not ask for more information than is necessary. The Disability Rights Commission also indicates that you should not ask for evidence of a disability where it is obvious that the Act will apply.

It might, however, be deemed less favourable treatment to require a person with dyslexia to go to the effort – and cost – of providing, for example, an educational psychologist’s report, something a person without dyslexia will not be asked to do. In any event, this may be impractical, as waiting for a report may considerably delay the recruitment process.

You have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled person where a provision, criterion or practice places him or her at a substantial disadvantage compared with those not disabled. In other words, you must take all reasonable steps to prevent such a disadvantage. In this scenario, giving someone with dyslexia longer to take the written exercise may represent a reasonable adjustment for you to make.

Stephanie can be contacted at: swooton@brownejacobson.com

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HRZone highly recommends that any answers are taken as a starting point for guidance only.

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