EAT Disability Discrimination – Reasonable Adjustments – The Claimant was training to be a Consultant Anaesthetist until she developed a latex allergy in October 2013; that condition was a disability for the purposes of Equality Act 2010. After meetings and enquiries, the First Appellant (the NHS body responsible for training) informed her in November 2014 that she would not be able to continue with her training because of the condition and she resigned from her employment with the Second Appellant in March 2015 and claimed that both Appellants had failed in their duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to enable her to continue to work and train.
The ET upheld this claim on the basis (in effect) that it ought to have been possible somehow to continue her training within the NHS and that the Appellants had not done enough to investigate matters.
In so doing the ET had treated the NHS as a single entity and failed to have proper regard to the specific legal functions and powers of the two Appellants; as a consequence the ET had (a) imposed liability on both of them indiscriminately without any separate consideration of their respective positions, (b) decided that it would have been a reasonable adjustment on the part of both of them to provide training and work in a latex free hospital when the First Appellant had no control over any hospital and the Second Appellant had no control over those of other Trusts and no control over where the First Appellant required the Claimant to carry out her training, and (c) apparently decided that they should both make adjustments in relation to exams or other speciality training requirements when neither of them had control over these matters.
This was an error of law and the decision could not stand.
Judges:
Shanks HHJ
Citations:
[2018] UKEAT 0068 – 17 – 0203
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment, Discrimination
Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.605705