EAT (Disability Discrimination : Disability Related Discrimination : Reasonable Adjustments) The Claimant was working for the Respondent as a temporary agency worker. He went off sick with a disability-related illness. The Respondent withdrew a conditional offer of employment on the basis of his attendance record.
He claimed the withdrawal of the offer was disability discrimination on the basis of section 15 (discrimination arising from disability) and section 21 (failure to make a reasonable adjustment by discounting disability-related absences).
The Employment Tribunal decided that the offer was withdrawn not only because of his attendance record but also because of his failure to keep the Respondent informed during his absence which was such that trust and confidence had broken down and that this meant his claims failed because (a) the suggested reasonable adjustment would have made no difference and (b) withdrawing the offer was justified in order to have effective service which was not possible given the break down in trust and confidence.
Those facts and the Employment Tribunal’s conclusions from them had not been properly pleaded or raised by the Respondent before or during the hearing and the Employment Tribunal had therefore erred in law in deciding the case on this basis.
Citations:
[2017] UKEAT 0270 – 16 – 0203
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment, Discrimination
Updated: 04 February 2022; Ref: scu.577879