Posted By Katie Hoyland If he has only recently been employed , you can sack him on the spot. This sounds extreme but may be the only long term suitable solution.

Posted By Neil Tonge Neil, An off the cuff answer because I didn't think you would want to go down the route the previous respondent suggested. Katie are you CIPD by any chance? Heard of some legislation called the Disability Discrimination Act? Disabled employees can now sue in civil court for unlimited damages if they are discriminated against on account of their disability. Sacking someone on the spot without going through appropriate disciplinary channels will more than likely mean a day in court! Essentially the DDA requires reasonable adjustments to be made to provide access to workplaces for those with disabilities. What is reasonable is dependent on the resources of the Company and the cost of the adjustment. It sounds as though you already have reasonable adjustments in place in the form of the EVAC chair and I would imagine your employee would use it in the event of a real fire. However if he point blank refuses perhaps restriction to the ground floor on the grounds of health and safety would be appropriate (and is allowed under DDA). Have you considered asking your employee what would be a reasonable adjustment? Hope this helps, Neil

Posted By Rob There's nowt so queer as folk. If it was a really real life threatening situation would he use the EVAC then? Put that to him. If your company has done every thing reasonably practical to ensure a safe evacuation from his / her workplace then i would force the issue. What other "knock-on logistical effects" would occur if the individual was relocated to a ground floor. was the individual made aware of the location of the workplace on employment? The sack? Don't go there, try to reach an amicable solution. Bob

Posted By John Webster Even with internal refuges, you would still need to have a means available for getting him downstairs if necessary. Wherever possible, relocating his office/department to the ground floor is usually the best solution, provided that he does not still require access to other floors in order to undertake his duties and is not unduly isolated from work colleagues. The DDA does require you to ask HIM what HE would consider to be reasonable adjustments. It would then be for you to show that his requests were unreasonable if you were unable or unwilling to meet them

Posted By Katie Hoyland posistive discrimination against mobility impaired invdividuals is beneficial in the long term.

Posted By Neil Pearson Thanks Maggie, you and the others above are right - I really need to talk to the person, so I'm trying to do that right now.