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The tribunal's ruling

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Hot desking results in disability discrimination claim

What’s hot desking?

A hot desking arrangement is where a group of employees share desks with their colleagues, rather than having desks assigned to them personally.

Alternatively, in some situations, an employee’s permanently assigned desk may temporarily be used by one or more colleagues, such as remote workers, when they are absent from work, e.g. due to sickness or holiday.

Take your pick

Over the past few years - particularly with the rise in homeworking and hybrid working arrangements - hot desking has become increasingly popular because it allows employers to reduce their overall office space.

In a true hot desking arrangement, employees take whichever desk is available to them when they arrive, i.e. it operates on a first-come first-served basis. This is different to a so-called “hoteling” arrangement whereby employees can book the desk or workstation that they wish to use in advance of them attending the workplace.

A known downside

A downside of a hot desking arrangement is that employees often don’t get the desk or workstation that they prefer. Also, some employees may return to work to find that their own desk has been altered or moved around whilst they’ve been absent.

In Baker v House of Commons Commission 2022 , managers at the House of Commons had operated a hot desking arrangement (see The next step ).

Leave me alone

Baker (B), who has a disability, knew that she was going to be away from work. As her desk was set up to specifically accommodate her disability, B left a polite note on her desk asking that it not be used for hot desking purposes in her absence.

Upon her return to work, B was subject to disciplinary proceedings for “reserving” her desk - which managers thought she had done deliberately to be difficult. This resulted in B issuing various claims for disability and sex discrimination.

Claim successful

Whilst B failed in most of her claims, the tribunal found in her favour with regards to her being subjected to disciplinary proceedings for reserving her assigned desk. It also concluded that the employer had failed in its duty to make reasonable adjustments by not ensuring that B’s desk could not be used by others during her absence.

Tip. Where an employee has a specific desk to help them with their disability, consider the impact on them if it is used by others in a hot desking arrangement. Don’t make any assumptions about the potential impact here - the employee should be fully involved in that process.

Tip. Assuming there might be a detrimental impact on the employee, e.g. they will have to spend a while setting their desk up again when they return to work, it’s best to exclude it from the hot desking arrangement.

For the tribunal’s ruling in this case, visit https://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk , Download Zone, year 24, issue 10.