EAT Contract of Employment : Implied Term/Variation/Construction of Term – DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION – Burden of proof
The Employment Tribunal had concluded that a contract of employment which stated that the Claimant was employed to work a minimum of 48 hours in fact meant a maximum of 48 hours. That finding was perverse: no one had contended for it and there was no evidence to support it and all indications were that the Claimant worked more than 48 hours a week.
The Claimant was disabled because he had been diagnosed with cancer. On being certified fit to work after a period of absence by his GP he was not allowed to return to the site he had been working at and later the principal (the Second Respondent) required a special assessment of his capability to be made. The Employment Tribunal failed entirely to mention or record the terms of section 13, 15, 41 or 136 of the Equality Act 2010, all of which were relevant to his claims of disability discrimination against his employer (the First Respondent) and the Second Respondent and it could not be seen from the Judgment that they had in fact applied them or reached findings of fact which inevitably led to the claims being refused.
Appeal allowed on both those points and on a finding that the Claimant had not been dismissed and not had an unlawful deduction of wages or suffered a breach of contract which flowed from the erroneous finding on his contractual terms.
Shanks HHJ
[2015] UKEAT 0322 – 14 – 1302
Bailii
England and Wales
Employment, Discrimination
Updated: 29 December 2021; Ref: scu.545173
