Need to know

• Disabled employees do not realise they are protected under the Equality Act 2010.

• Disability discrimination is not always about someone being treated badly because they are disabled, sometimes the problem’s that an employer treats everyone the same.

Welcome to TSL’s Weekly Edge, whether you’re aiming for a regional or high-street practice, or just want to get a feel for how law works in the real world beyond textbooks, you’re in the right place. 

No corporate jargon, no massive deals, just real useful information designed to give you that extra edge in your legal journey.

🧠Wilson’s Weekly Wisdom

When we think about learning, we often picture textbooks, revision notes or hours spent reading. But learning doesn’t always look like that.

A webinar, workshop, podcast, or even a conversation with someone more experienced can teach you lessons that no book can. As a law student or junior lawyer, every opportunity to learn adds to your knowledge and confidence.

So this week, don’t measure your progress by the number of pages you’ve read. Measure it by what you’ve learned, the questions you’ve asked, and the new perspectives you’ve gained.

📣 Your Turn: Ask Us Anything (Almost)

Got a question that’s been quietly bugging you about the legal world, commercial awareness, training contracts, or how regional firms actually work day to day? Good. We want it.

Each month, we’ll pick a question and do a an editorial response. No fluff. No corporate waffle. Just honest, practical answers you can actually use in applications, interviews, and real conversations in firms.

If you’re wondering it, chances are someone else is too. So be brave, be curious, and send it in.

👉 Submit your question here!

💡Spotlight Article

You turn up, do your job, get on with your day.

Then the questions start: Why the extra breaks? The hospital appointments? Why can't you just work like everyone else?

The questions sound harmless on the surface, but that’s a trap most often missed, because disability discrimination often flies under a reasonable person’s radar.

🔎What’s happening? 

Most people imagine discrimination as something obvious: A joke that’s not funny in the slightest. A personal dig disguised as ‘hilarious’ sarcasm. A promotion quietly blocked. A manager stepping over a line.

Plenty of disabled employees do not realise they are protected under the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010), especially when their condition’s new, fluctuating or not immediately visible.

But disability discrimination’s not always about someone being treated badly because they are disabled. Sometimes the problem is that an employer treats everyone the same.

It sounds fair, but legally, it can be the opposite.

Two areas cause the most problems.

The first’s discrimination arising from disability. This happens when someone’s treated unfavourably because of something connected to an Equality Act‑protected condition, such as condition-related absences or behaviour influenced by prescribed medication.

This type of claim does not require comparison with a non‑disabled colleague, which is why it often succeeds where direct discrimination doesn’t.

The second’s the duty to make reasonable adjustments.

This is where equality law becomes unusual. Employers are sometimes expected to change working practices, provide equipment, adjust hours or remove impediments that put someone at a disadvantage.

An employee does not always need to declare a disability for protections to apply. If an employer reasonably ought to know, the duty can still arise. Tribunals regularly look at medical notes, previous conversations and workplace patterns to decide whether an employer “should have known” about a disability.

That’s why employers must be mindful that outwardly ordinary conversations can often turn into legal grievances. Viewed through the Act’s lens, disability discrimination often rests on whether a constraint was factored in and whether the employer took genuine steps to reduce it.

Modern workplaces also create new restrictions, such as rigid hybrid‑working policies, strict productivity software, or attendance algorithms that do not account for disability‑related fluctuations.

And that’s where today’s flashpoints are increasingly fought; in the design of workplace systems, not just in individual decisions.

❓ Why it matters to high street firms

People don’t usually describe what’s happened to them in legal language.

They just talk about work; that they’ve been warned about absences, that everyone else gets to work from home, or that they’ve told their employer about their condition over and over, but the situation remains the same. The discrimination angle only appears once the facts get a look over.

That difference matters.

The underlying concerns are often wrapped in something that looks like a separate problem: a performance setback being a reasonable adjustments issue, or attendance sticking points sometimes discrimination arises from challenges, so a feeling of unfairness might already be an EA 2010 problem.

That’s why the first call often goes to the local adviser. They’re left to untangle whether the problem’s bad management, muddled communication or something that crosses into legal territory.

However, timing is most critical.

Employment claims run on strict deadlines. A client who spends months trying to fix things informally can lose legal options before they realise discrimination’s involved. Most claims must start ACAS early conciliation within three months minus one day of the act complained of, a deadline many clients don’t know exists.

High street solicitors also see the practical side of these friction areas.

They deal with employers who forget to record adjustments, HR teams giving mixed messages, and managers who unintentionally breach confidentiality when talking about an employee’s health.

The legal sector itself is governed by strict diversity and inclusion duties, so a client who turns to a high street solicitor gains two things at once: grounded, practical support and a professional environment that understands why fair treatment matters.

It’s crucial not to lose sight of the human story running through these cases.

Someone’s trying to manage a long‑term condition, keep their job and stay afloat. What truly matters, therefore, is holding on tight to situations where ordinary workplace decisions begin to carry consequences.

Reasonable Adjustments

Not every adjustment must be made. The law only requires adjustments are reasonable.

That means looking at cost, practicality, resources and whether the change would remove the disadvantage.