Disability Discrimination Act

With effect from December 1998, the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) were extended to employers with 15 to 19 employees. In deciding not to lower the threshold further at this stage, the Government say they've recognised that small employers don't always have specialist personnel managers and so there is genuine concern that hard-pressed small business men and women run a much greater risk of making simple mistakes with a complex law than a larger business. They might then have to answer for such mistakes in an employment tribunal at disproportionate expense. However, it's our belief that the law is unlikely to stop at firms with more than 15 employees.