Equality, diversity and human rights >
Disability discrimination
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that it was not a reasonable adjustment for the subjective redundancy selection criteria by which a disabled employee who was at risk of redundancy was judged to be removed from the process.
In X v Mid Sussex Citizens’ Advice Bureau and others [2011] EWCA Civ 28 CA, the Court of Appeal held that a volunteer at a Citizens’ Advice Bureau was not an employee for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and could not therefore claim disability discrimination when she was asked to stop her voluntary work.
In this case, the employer's unjustified assumptions about a diabetic employee led to a £25,555 compensation award to her for disability discrimination.
The employment tribunal in this case made the unusual finding that a job applicant was subjected to harassment when he was accidentally sent an internal email that he felt was dismissive of his application. In addition, the decision provides a good example of a very simple reasonable adjustment that the employer should have made: giving the applicant a few extra minutes to prepare for his interview.
The Court of Appeal has given short shrift to a police officer's disability discrimination claim over his police force's actions after he displayed violent tendencies at a Christmas party that led his colleagues to fear for their safety.
This week's case of the week, provided by DLA Piper, covers disability discrimination.
In Martin v Devonshires Solicitors EAT/0086/10, the EAT held that, where an employer dismisses an employee in response to his or her protected act, the employer may not have unlawfully victimised the employee where the reason for the dismissal was some feature of the protected act that can be treated as separable.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that a paid volunteer is not an employee for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 where there is no mutuality of obligation between the parties.
Tori O'Neil, associate, and Judith Harris, legal director, at Addleshaw Goddard detail the latest rulings.
In Aitken v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis EAT/0226/09, the EAT held that, in assessing whether or not a police officer who had displayed violent tendencies had been discriminated against, the employment tribunal was entitled to have regard to the need for a police officer not to appear to present a danger to colleagues or the public.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to disability discrimination.