Supermarket ex-employee wins over £45k for discrimination!

An ex-employee of a large UK supermarket chain has been awarded significant compensation after a tribunal ruled he was the victim of disability discrimination. According to the legal documents, the primary complaint was that the company forced him to work his weekly contracted hours over the span of five days, rather than his requested three days.

Additional decisions by the supermarket amounting to discrimination included a complaint that the employee was subjected to an absence management procedure, a complaint of unfair dismissal, a complaint of wrongful dismissal, and finally a complaint in relation to holiday pay.

Employment judges ruled that this decision contravened the Equality Act 2010, which stated a person has a disability if they “(a) has a physical or mental impairment, and (b)the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”

The claimant’s disability was not disclosed in documents published online, nor were full details of the case. However, the tribunal did release papers confirming the award was £20,500 compensation for ‘injury to feelings’, with a further £25,412 being paid to him in compensation for the discrimination claims.

Employers must do all they reasonably can to protect people from discrimination and take steps to prevent disability discrimination at work and this would include adjusting working hours to suit an individual’s particular circumstances. All employers must take steps to prevent disability discrimination happening in the first place and by law, employers must also make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for disabled employees and job applicants. If they do not do this, it could be discriminatory.

121 HR Solutions can provide training for your business relating to increasing awareness of what may or may not be suitable and help to build a positive, forward-thinking workplace. Contact us at enquiries@121hrsolutions.co.uk and we will be happy to discuss.