EAT Disability Discrimination – Reasonable adjustments.
The Appellant was disabled within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act. The sick pay rules of her employer provided that anyone absent sick would receive full pay for 26 weeks in any 4 year period, and thereafter half pay for the next twenty six weeks, and thereafter the pension rate of pay. The Appellant had lengthy absences from work, most of which were related to her disability. She claimed that she ought to have been given full pay for her absences, alternatively for non-disability related absences, and that the failure to make such payments amounted to both disability related discrimination and involved a failure to make reasonable adjustments under sections 3A(1) and 3A(2) of the Act respectively. The Employment Tribunal found that although the effect of the sick pay rules was to subject her to a substantial disadvantage within the meaning of section 4A(1), the adjustment sought was not a reasonable one. They also found that there was no disability related discrimination, but even if there was, it was justified. The employee appealed against the three adverse findings against her and the employer cross appealed against the finding that the effect of the sick pay rules was to place her at a substantial disadvantage. The EAT found that the Employment Tribunal had erred in law in concluding that there was no disability related discrimination, but that they were entitled to find that it was justified. The cross appeal was dismissed, as was the appeal against the finding that the adjustment was not a reasonable one. Accordingly, the Employment Tribunal’s conclusion that there had been no breach of the Act stood.
Judges:
The Honourable Mr Justice Elias (President)
Citations:
[2006] UKEAT 0109 – 06 – 0408, UKEAT/0109/06
Links:
Cited by:
Cited – TRW Systems Ltd v Routledge EAT 8-Mar-2007
EAT Practice and Procedure – Appellate jurisdiction/reasons/Burns-Barke
In a 13-page judgment, the Tribunal recorded in an exemplary form its findings of fact, its summary of the law and the submissions of . .
Appeal from – O’Hanlon v Revenue and Customs CA 30-Mar-2007
The claimant suffered depression, and complained that the respondent’s reduction in her pay after long periods of sickness was discriminatory. She appealed decisions that it was not. She said that a reasonable adjustment would have been to continue . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment, Discrimination
Updated: 11 July 2022; Ref: scu.257784
