UK disability discrimination law and stammering / stuttering
A worker with a stammer was dismissed and claimed disability discrimination. The tribunal held he did not have a disability within the Equality Act. Colleagues said his stammer sounded only slight. The tribunal acknowledged that a stammer may also have hidden effects. However in this case the tribunal did not have sufficient evidence that the … Read more
The EAT held that in deciding whether there is a breach of s.15 EqA (discrimination arising from disability), the dismissal itself is separate from any later internal appeal decision on it. The tribunal claim in this particular case only covered the original dismissal, at which time the employer had no knowledge of the disability. So … Read more
An employment tribunal held that a worker caring for her disabled mother could claim indirect disability discrimination when asked to give up home-working. This was even though it was the mother rather than the claimant who was disabled. However being only a tribunal case, it does not set a precedent. 2021, Employment Tribunal. Full decision: … Read more
The tribunal found the claimant was disabled within the Equality Act, by reason of her stammer and depression. However it held there was no discrimination, so her claim failed overall. 2021, Employment Tribunal. Full decision (pdf, gov.uk). (There are also earlier decisions (gov.uk) on applications to strike out the claim.) Facts The claimant was employed … Read more
The EAT stressed that in assessing whether the effect of an impairment is “substantial” under the Equality Act, the tribunal should start from the statutory wording of whether the effect is more than “minor or trivial”. The Guidance and Code of Practice do not add extra requirements; they should not be read as statutes, and … Read more
The claimant’s employment was terminated without notice due to his alleged “verbal and threatening behaviour towards management” at a meeting. Part of the problem was him speaking loudly and quickly at the meeting – he had a stammer which caused him to do this when trying to communicate under stress. The employment tribunal rejected his … Read more
The employer offered a monthly allowance to people who submitted a disability certificate after a certain date to encourage more people to do so, but not to those who had submitted one before that date. The EU Court held that less favourable treatment of some disabled people compared to other disabled people could be direct … Read more
The Supreme Court held that Uber drivers (in London) were “workers” and therefore entitled to the national minimum wage, paid holiday and whistleblowing protection. The court downgraded the importance of written documents (controlled by the ’employer’) in deciding whether someone is a worker, and emphasised that employers cannot ‘contract out’ of employment rights. 2021, Supreme … Read more
A claimant who stammers argued that the employer should have made further adjustments to an interview and presentation, for example expressly telling him he had extra time, follow-up questions where his answers were unduly short, and arrangements to enable him to keep eye contact. The tribunal held that on the facts the adjustments which had … Read more
The Court of Appeal upheld the “cost plus” principle, in the sense that saving or avoidance of costs will not without more amount to a ‘legitimate aim’ in seeking to justify discrimination. However this does not prevent an employer from relying on a legitimate aim of needing to reduce its expenditure, specifically staff costs, in … Read more