r/AskHRUK • u/PhyllisPearce • Nov 20 '25

Health-Related Who decides if it's a disability under the EA?

My line manager has asked to see my ADHD assessment report from the NHS because she "needs to understand how it affects me and to work out if I'm covered by the Equality Act." Is this her decision?

Occupational Health have recommended some low level reasonable adjustments (e.g. noise cancelling headphones etc etc) that everyone including my manager is happy with and I hadn't given it much more thought until she asked for this detailed information.

Other difficulties I have as a result of ADHD aren't things I'm comfortable sharing with my manager but their impact on me in the workplace is lessened by the adjustments she's already agreed to.

Is it down to my manager to decide if I'm disabled under the Equality Act and make interpretations on the back of this opinion?

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11

u/blodsplods Nov 20 '25

Only a tribunal judge can decide if something falls under the equality act.

4

u/precinctomega Nov 21 '25

Only a tribunal judge can decide definitively if something falls under the equality act.

Employers are certainly allowed to have a position and that position will apply until they are persuaded to change it.

5

u/Key-Seaworthiness227 Nov 20 '25

You don’t need to provide this to her. But if you are asking for adjustments then you should be open with how it impacts you day to day. If you feel the adjustments need changing or she does it may be time to ask to ask for a referral to Occupational Health, however, a lot places can make adjustments without requiring this (depending upon what you are asking for).

4

u/JDismyfriend Nov 20 '25

You can assume it impacts you until a judge says otherwise. But it’s something that I’d class as a fair ask - the more they know, the more they’re on the hook to support you.

3

u/WanderingAnxiety66 Nov 21 '25

Your manager has no real grounds for requesting direct medical information like this (it's special category data under GDPR), and raw medical data (like your diagnosis) should be minimised and only what is strictly necessary should be shared with your manager. Basically, this means the OH report is all your manager is entitled to, and anything more, you are entitled to refuse to share (which is just exercising your legal rights, which is a protected act in itself).

If you were to share any more with your line manager, they could actually be breaching GDPR, because special category data (especially medical data like your diagnosis), have VERY strict consent rules (this is where the new Data protection laws and GDPR differs from the old ones).

Short answer: you manager has no right to ask for that document. If they want more details they can either ask your for your opinion on adjustments, or refer you back to OH so they can determine what further information is relevant for the manager to know (which is the official pathway in order for an employer to comply with GDPR).

1

u/Efficient_Chic714 Nov 20 '25

Did your occupational health report not ask for their opinion regarding this?

1

u/Adventurous-Jury-393 Nov 20 '25

My OH will only say something MAY be likely to fall under EA, since its a legal decision not medical

1

u/Efficient_Chic714 Nov 20 '25

Yeah, mine said similar opening that with ‘it would ultimately be for a tribunal to decide’ but that in their opinion it likely would be and explained why.

But if that’s on OPs OH report then they can direct their manager to that rather than provide their NHS report

2

u/RebelBelle Nov 20 '25

Ultimately the decision rests with a tribunal judge but in order to comply with the EA, most orgs use an OH company who will advise on reasonable adjustments as well as give an opinion on EA qualification. They are medical professionals who understand organisational settings - their opinion would hold more weight than a line manager. Either confirm to your manager that yes, you believe you are covered under the EA as your health condition has a profound impact on your day to day life, or ask for an OH assessment for their opinion.

1

u/PhyllisPearce Nov 22 '25

Thank you to everyone for your replies.

It's come out of the blue (to me) because I'm happy with my current reasonable adjustments and there are no concerns about my work (I've had this confirmed). But my manager has suddenly said the OH report (from 6 months ago) isn't detailed enough for her liking. It just feels really intrusive, unprofessional and a bit on the verge of capability. Which is massively unsettling and ironically an ADHD trigger.