Chief Constable of Norfolk v Coffey: CA 21 Jun 2019

The claimant had a minor hearing impairment. It was not of itself sufficient to amount to a disability in law, but the appellant took her off front line duties because of it. The CC now appealed a finding that it had breached the 2010 Act, saying that she was not in fact disabled.
Held: The appeal failed. It was sufficient that she had been perceived as having a disability, and had been treated less favourably accordingly.
The court acknowledged the particular demands of front-line police work, but the real issue was whether the decision-maker’s belief that the claimant already was or might become incapable of performing front-line duties was a belief about her ability to carry out ‘normal day-to-day activities’.

Judges:

Underhill, Davis , Bean LJJ

Citations:

[2019] EWCA Civ 1061, [2019] WLR(D) 342

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Statutes:

Equality Act 2010

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal fromThe Chief Constable of Norfolk v Coffey EAT 19-Dec-2017
DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION – Direct disability discrimination
Perceived Discrimination
The Employment Tribunal did not err in law in finding that the Respondent (1) perceived the Claimant to be disabled and (2) treated her less . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Discrimination

Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.638816