Work and epilepsy
Jump straight to the information you need
Key points
- In most cases epilepsy is considered as a disability, so you’re protected under the Equality Act
- Your employer must keep you safe at work. A risk assessment and reasonable adjustments are ways of doing this
- There are organisations to support you in finding work if you have epilepsy
- Help and advice are available if you are having problems at work because of your epilepsy
- Our employment page explains how employers can support people with epilepsy
Do I have a disability if I have epilepsy?
Many people with epilepsy don’t think of themselves as disabled. But epilepsy is usually considered as a disability under the equality laws.
Here’s why:
- It is a physical long-term condition lasting longer than 12 months
- Epilepsy might negatively impact your life if you didn’t take medicine to control seizures
There are laws in the UK that protect people with disabilities. This is the Equality Act in England, Scotland and Wales. The Disability Discrimination Act applies in Northern Ireland.
In terms of work, the law protects you in these different stages:
- Application and interview processes
- Interview arrangements
- Ability tests
- Job offers
- Terms of employment, including pay
- Promotion, transfer and training opportunities
- Dismissal or redundancy
- Discipline and grievances
Telling work about your epilepsy
What is a reasonable adjustment?
Reasonable adjustments are changes that employers and organisations can make to help people with disabilities. It makes sure they aren’t at a disadvantage compared to someone without a disability.
Examples of reasonable adjustments include:
- Making changes to recruitment processes and interviews
- Flexible working hours
- Providing training or mentoring
- Changing or using different equipment
- Helping to reduce your seizure triggers, such as stress and tiredness
- Allowing time off for treatment or appointments as part of disability leave
Reasonable adjustments have to be realistic for the employer and for you. Many reasonable adjustments involve little or no cost. If there are costs involved, funding might be available from Access to Work. This government scheme can fund different sources of support to help you. This could be specialist equipment, a support worker, or transport costs. Find out more on the gov.uk website.
Your employer should make reasonable adjustments to help you. It could be against the law if they don’t. But sometimes it might not be possible to make a job safe if you have seizures. Not making reasonable adjustments in this situation may be legal.
You might not need any adjustments if you are seizure-free or wouldn’t be harmed if you had a seizure at work.
Flexible working
You could ask for flexible working as a reasonable adjustment. This means making changes to your working patterns to help you work in a way that suits your needs.
There are different types of flexible working. For example:
- Working from home – this has become more common after the pandemic. There are advantages and disadvantages of working from home. It may be a risk for you to work alone at home if you have a seizure. But, it may help to avoid seizure triggers by reducing stress and tiredness. Your employer can include working from home in your risk assessment to help you be safe.
- Flexitime – this is where you work core hours, but you can change your start and finish times
- Staggered hours – this is where you start and finish at different times to your colleagues
Citizens Advice has more information about flexible working.
Occupational Health
Sometimes your employer might refer you for an occupational health assessment. This will be with a medical professional.
Occupational health aims to keep you safe and healthy at work. They look at how your work might affect your health, and how your health affects your work.
They can give suggestions for reasonable adjustments and what to include in your risk assessment.
Volunteer with us
Epilepsy Action has a range of exciting volunteer roles.
It’s a great opportunity to learn new skills and experience for your CV.
Keeping you safe at work
Do I need a seizure action plan for work?
It’s a good idea to make a seizure action plan with your employer if there’s a chance you might have a seizure at work. This can include what happens when you have a seizure and how people can help you during and afterwards.
Epilepsy Action have a seizure action plan template your employer can use.
The My epilepsy template may help you to think about what you want to tell your employer.
What is a health and safety risk assessment?
It’s an assessment your employer must do to make sure you can carry out your work safely. Some questions that might come up during your health and safety risk assessment are:
- Are your seizures controlled?
- How often do they happen?
- What happens to you when you have a seizure?
- Is there anything that makes your seizures more likely? For example, lack of sleep, tiredness, stress, hormonal changes, flashing lights
- Do you need any specific care during or after a seizure?
Employers should have employers’ liability insurance. This means they are covered in case you become ill or injured because of your work. Employers must make sure they take steps to keep you safe in order to be covered by their insurance. A risk assessment is an example of how they can do this.
Epilepsy Action have a risk assessment template your employer can use.
Got any questions?
Our expert advisors can help you with any questions you might have about work or anything else related to living with epilepsy.
Epilepsy training for employers
Epilepsy Action training to support people with epilepsy in the workplace.
