Handed a PIP? 3 things to put in writing before you sign

ACAS says an employer should do everything reasonably possible to support a disabled employee, including reasonable adjustments, before it starts a capability or performance procedure (ACAS, updated 10 September 2024). A performance improvement plan (PIP) often arrives with that step skipped. If you are dyslexic and a PIP is on your desk, you have a few days to choose between signing and starting, or asking for changes first.

This article covers the UK first and the US second. The two systems treat timing differently, and that difference changes what you should do on day one.

What the UK expects before a PIP starts

ACAS tells employers to talk with the employee about current performance, what is expected and what support or adjustments might help. It also says to keep a record of those discussions and agree it with the employee (ACAS, 10 September 2024). A PIP that opens with fixed targets and no such conversation sits badly against that advice.

ACAS gives its own example. An employee with severe pain saw the quality of their work drop, and the manager agreed support on difficult days and a small reduction in targets to help keep quality up (ACAS, 10 September 2024). Notice what was changed: the support and the targets, before anyone talked about dismissal.

A missing adjustment conversation does not make a PIP void. It gives you a published standard to point to when you reply, which is a stronger place to start than saying the plan feels unfair.

So what for you: read your PIP and mark whether any adjustment conversation took place before it was written.

Why timing matters more in the US

The EEOC's technical assistance on performance and conduct standards (issued 3 September 2008) says employees with disabilities must meet the same production standards as everyone else. Lowering the standard does not count as an accommodation. Support that helps you meet the standard does (EEOC, Q1, 2008).

On timing, the ADA sets no deadline for asking. If your first request comes after counselling or a low rating, though, the employer may carry on with the evaluation, and it does not have to excuse past poor performance or raise the rating (EEOC, Q5 and Q6, 2008). A low rating can stand even if you later explain that dyslexia was the cause (EEOC, Q4, 2008).

The employer still has to start the interactive process once you ask. It cannot refuse your request as a punishment for the earlier problems (EEOC, Q6, 2008). The guidance is technical assistance, which means it is not binding law, but courts and employers read it closely.

So what for you: in the US, the sooner the request is on paper, the more of the PIP period it covers.

Three things to put in writing

Send one email, short enough to write in one sitting. Dictate it if typing is slow. Put these in it.

First, the task and its effect. Name the PIP target that dyslexia touches, such as reviewing long documents, writing minutes or checking numbers in dense tables, and say what the effect is. A diagnosis helps if you have one. If you do not, the effects are enough to start the conversation, and the Equality Act 2010 looks at what your employer knew or could reasonably have known (Schedule 8, paragraph 20).

Second, the change you want. Be specific: text-to-speech for reading, written follow-up after meetings, an extra day on written deliverables, or a lower target while the tool arrives. Our Access to Work calculator shows what funding could sit behind a tool, though your employer's duty does not wait for it.

Third, a review date. Ask for a check-in at two or four weeks to see whether the change is working. Ask too whether your signature on the PIP means you received it or agree with it, and say which one you mean.

So what for you: one email with the task, the change and the review date does more than three conversations nobody wrote down.

Why the paper trail decides so much

ACAS says a performance procedure must be full and fair. If you later bring a tribunal claim, the tribunal looks at the evidence, including meeting notes, records of adjustments and their reviews, and reasons for any support that was not given (ACAS, 10 September 2024). An email from you, dated before the first checkpoint, becomes part of that file.

Two tribunal cases show the other side. Mr Debont lost his reasonable adjustments claim because he never told his employer that his Dragon software was not working for him (Debont tribunal decision, 31 October 2023, reported by Third Sector, 24 November 2023). In Rashid v PHSO, an unminuted meeting and a missing spreadsheet sat at the centre of the dispute (Employment Tribunal 2424622/2017).

Adjustments that exist on paper also need checking. In a Dyslexia Scotland and University of Glasgow survey launched in October 2024, only 41% of dyslexic adults received workplace adjustments, and only 25% of those called them very or extremely helpful. Ask for the review, and use it.

So what for you: a request you can show someone is worth far more than one you only remember making.

When signing without asking is reasonable

Some PIPs have fair targets on tasks your dyslexia barely touches. If that is your case, you may decide to sign, meet the targets and keep the conversation for another day. That is a legitimate choice, and it is yours to make.

Think about the cost of waiting, though. Under ACAS guidance a dismissal can be justified only where the person cannot do the job after all adjustments and support, and no suitable alternative role exists (ACAS, 10 September 2024). If no adjustments were ever requested, that sequence is harder to test, and your position is weaker.

Know the deadlines too. For UK acts on or after 1 October 2026, most tribunal claims generally have six months to start (Lewis Silkin, 24 September 2026). Disability discrimination claims need no minimum service, while most unfair dismissal claims usually need two years (ACAS, 10 September 2024). In the US, an EEOC charge generally has to be filed within 180 calendar days, or 300 where a state or local agency enforces a similar law (EEOC timeliness guidance).

So what for you: sign or don't, but diary the date of the PIP and the two deadlines that matter in your country.

The call

Ask first. Send the email within the first working week of the PIP, before any checkpoint meeting, and keep a copy outside work systems if your contract allows it. Our disclosure guide helps you decide how much to say and to whom.

If the reply is a flat refusal, or silence, write down the date and ask once more in writing. Then read the recent tribunal cases on our site and talk to ACAS (UK) or the EEOC (US) while the clock is still generous.

If you decide to sign without asking, add a note in your own diary of the targets you were given and when. That small record costs five minutes and keeps your options open.

So what for you: tonight, write the three-line email, save it as a draft and send it at your first sensible moment tomorrow.