DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION and PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE
Disability Discrimination – Direct Discrimination – Section 13 Equality Act 2010 – Burden of Proof – Section 136 Equality Act 2010
Practice and Procedure – Employment Tribunal Reasons
The claimant complained of direct disability discrimination in relation to her dismissal (purportedly for performance issues) and in respect of matters occurring before any performance issues had been raised. It was the claimant’s case that each of these matters demonstrated that her line manager (who had also taken the decision to dismiss) had treated her less favourably because of her disability. The ET rejected the claimant’s complaints, holding that she had not been dismissed because of her disability and, in relation to what it termed the ‘subsidiary issues’, that there was no convincing evidence that the manager was actuated by discrimination or that was the reason for the actions of inaction alleged against her. The claimant appealed.
Held: allowing the appeal.
The ET had failed to make any findings of fact on the pre-dismissal complaints (the ‘subsidiary issues’) and it was impossible to discern how it had resolved the evidential dispute between the parties on those matters, which were (on the claimant’s case) capable of demonstrating discrimination because of disability. It was equally impossible to know whether the ET had accepted the non-discriminatory explanations provided by the respondent. The ET’s failings in respect of the pre-dismissal complaints further tainted the reasoning provided in relation to the claimant’s dismissal: the claimant relied on the earlier matters as establishing facts from which the ET could decide, in the absence of any other explanation, that her dismissal had amounted to an act of direct disability discrimination. Having failed to engage with the claimant’s case and to make the necessary findings of fact and/or to consider the shifting burden of proof under section 136 EqA, the ET’s conclusion that the claimant was not dismissed because of her disability could not stand.
Judges:
The Honourable Mrs Justice Eady DBE, President
Citations:
[2022] EAT 77
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment, Discrimination
Updated: 27 June 2022; Ref: scu.678302
