RA and Your Career: Legal Rights, Workplace Adjustments & Knowing When to Disclose

Your Job Does Not Have to Be a Casualty of a Diagnosis

Work is where a long-term health condition becomes most visible and most negotiable. Symptoms that fluctuate. Appointments that fall in working hours. Fatigue that is invisible to everyone else. Tasks that were straightforward last year and are awkward now.

These are legal questions as much as clinical ones, and the UK position is stronger than most people realise. The Equality Act 2010 places a positive duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments — a duty to act, not merely to refrain from acting. A government grant scheme called Access to Work funds practical support that sits entirely outside that duty. Neither is well known. Neither works automatically. Both have to be asked for.

This 20-page guide explains the framework in plain terms and gives you the wording for the conversations that are hardest to start.

✅ Written to current UK law and guidance, September 2026. Covering the Equality Act 2010, GOV.UK Access to Work, Statutory Sick Pay, fit notes, Acas early conciliation and employment tribunal time limits.

What's Inside

Sections 1–2: The Legal Framework, and Who It Covers

The six protections under the Equality Act set out in a table — direct and indirect discrimination, discrimination arising from disability, failure to make reasonable adjustments, harassment and victimisation. Then the statutory definition of disability, and the two features of it that matter enormously for a fluctuating condition: effects likely to recur still count, and the test disregards treatment. Plus a printable worksheet for documenting practical effects.

Sections 3–4: Reasonable Adjustments, and How to Ask

An eight-category table of adjustments commonly discussed — morning stiffness, fatigue, hand and wrist tasks, standing and walking, lifting, appointments, absence policies and travel — with specific examples for each. Then how to frame the request: preparation, a word-for-word opening conversation, a short written request template, and exactly what to do if the answer is no.

Section 5: Access to Work

The government grant most people have never heard of. What it funds — specialist equipment, assistive software, support workers, travel to work, workplace adaptations, mental health support, interview support — and the crucial limitation: it will not pay for reasonable adjustments, because those are the employer's legal duty. Knowing that boundary prevents the stalemate where each party assumes the other is paying.

Section 6: Occupational Health

What it is for, why a referral often unlocks a stalled adjustment process, what happens to confidentiality, and how to prepare for the appointment so a fluctuating condition is not underplayed.

Section 7: Disclosure and Recruitment

The trade-off laid out in a side-by-side table. Why the adjustments duty is triggered by the employer's knowledge. The restriction on health questions before a job offer, the defined exceptions, the Disability Confident scheme, and a script for disclosing after an offer.

Section 8: Sick Leave, Absence and Returning to Work

Statutory versus contractual sick pay. The "may be fit for work" fit note and what it can recommend. Adjusting absence trigger points — a well-established category of adjustment worth raising proactively. Plus a printable return-to-work plan.

Section 9: When Things Go Wrong

The six-step escalation route, and the thing that catches people out: employment tribunal time limits are generally three months less one day, strictly applied, and waiting for a grievance to conclude can take a claim outside them.

Sections 10–11: Glossary and UK Sources

Who This Guide Is For

• Employed adults with RA who want adjustments without damaging a working relationship
• Anyone weighing up whether, when and how much to disclose
• People returning to work after a period of absence
• Managers and HR who want to get this right

Format & Delivery

• Format: PDF, 20 pages, A4
• Instant download — no waiting, no shipping
• Printable tools — practical effects worksheet and return-to-work plan
• Word-for-word scripts for manager conversations, written requests and disclosure
• Last reviewed: September 2026

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This guide is for educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and no solicitor-client relationship is created by reading it. Employment law is complex and time limits are short — anyone facing a specific problem should take advice from Acas, Citizens Advice, a trade union or a qualified employment solicitor.