One of the biggest tribunal cases to come out of 2024 involved London Borough Council of Hammersmith and Fulham who wound up paying their claimant over £4.5 million in a disability discrimination case!
It’s that time of year again for many businesses to update employee records, such as, personal details, medical disclosures and next of kin information. Whilst most of this information will just need to be saved to confidential personnel files, you must ensure appropriate action is taken if someone makes a declaration on their health questionnaire.
If you don’t already issue health questionnaires to staff or are unsure about what to do if a health declaration is made, then please refer to our article on this topic: Health Questionnaires | The Spectra Group
One of the biggest tribunal cases to come out of 2024 involved London Borough Council of Hammersmith and Fulham who wound up paying their claimant over £4.5 million in a disability discrimination case! This record-breaking award included damages for loss of earnings, pension, injury to feelings and an uplift for non-compliance with the ACAS Code of Practice.
A key issue in this case centred around the employer’s failure to consider the claimant’s health declarations, which were made during the recruitment process.
Although the employer did everything right in the initial stages i.e., they issued a medical questionnaire and referred the employee onto occupational health, this served only as a paperwork exercise. Instead of assessing how the claimant’s ADHD and PTSD would affect her day-to-day and exploring reasonable adjustments, they seemingly filed the paperwork and carried on as normal.
The employer’s lack of regard became apparent during an ad-hoc coffee meeting between the claimant and her manager. During this meeting, the manager repeatedly stated that the claimant’s “brain did not work like other peoples” and that she did not realise she was being serious about her ADHD condition. The manager also accused the claimant of failing to declare her condition during the recruitment process.
The ad-hoc meeting subsequently led to the claimant being signed off sick due to PTSD and acute anxiety, which was followed by her probation being extended. The Council then terminated the claimant’s extended probation on its expiration without any warning that she was at risk of dismissal, or with the benefit of expert medical advice. The claimant was also not given an opportunity to make representations prior to the decision being made or to appeal it afterwards.
Key Takeaways:
Remember, having policies in place isn’t enough to protect your business if you’re not actually following the procedures set out within them!
You can contact Spectra for further expert advice on health questionnaires and how to handle information which comes to your attention via your medical forms.