EAT Disability Discrimination : Reasonable Adjustments – Claimant disabled employee on long term absence with depression. Redundancy situation. Selection for redundancy based on scores from assessment against detailed criteria. Claimant selected and dismissed. Claims unfair dismissal, direct disability discrimination and failure to make reasonable adjustments. Employment Tribunal finds fair process and procedure applied in genuine redundancy situation. Employer conceded scoring criteria would put Claimant at a substantial disadvantage. Made reasonable adjustment by applying criteria only to his pre-disablement employment record.
All claims dismissed.
Appeal on basis of failure to identify and strictly apply the approach to reasonable adjustment cases set out in Rowan v Environment Agency.
Appeal DISMISSED.
ET had expressly identified the PCP as the scoring criteria. Pool of comparators was obvious (others facing redundancy to whom same PCP applied but not disabled by depression). All parties knew of the concession that the PCP would put Claimant at substantial disadvantage. ET dealt fully with the real question in the case – did the adjustment remove the disadvantage – and gave sound reasons for finding that it did.
Luba QC
[2013] UKEAT 0320 – 13 – 1511
Bailii
England and Wales
Employment, Discrimination
Updated: 28 November 2021; Ref: scu.520032
