October’s top five Employment Tribunal cases

1. Employee discriminated against and unfairly dismissed after job share was unreasonably turned into full-time role

An Employment Tribunal ruled that a female employee had been unfairly dismissed and subjected to indirect sex discrimination after her employer attempted to alter her role from a part-time to a full-time position.

The Tribunal held that the employer’s view that a full-time role would be most effective was made on the basis of “impression and opinion unsupported by evidence”.

Mrs J McBride v Capita Customer Management Limited (ET/1811328/2018)

2. Financial adviser was constructively unfair dismissed after being blackmailed over restrictive covenants

An Employment Tribunal held that a financial adviser had been constructively unfairly dismissed from his employment after one of the directors at the business attempted to “blackmail” him unless he signed an amendment to his contract extending the length of post-termination restrictive covenants.

The Employment Tribunal awarded the Claimant £17,199.12 in compensation.

Mr P Ward v Fiducia Comprehensive Financial Planning Ltd (ET/2602061/18)

3. Nurse discriminated against by NHS after period of sickness leave due to workplace stress & anxiety

The Employment Tribunal upheld the Claimant’s claims of discrimination arising from disability (section 15 Equality Act 2010) and failure to make reasonable adjustments (section 20 Equality Act 2010) after it found that there had been “no meaningful discussion” during the meeting in which the Claimant had been dismissed and, further, that the NHS Trust had not considered his disability before taking the decision to dismiss him.

Mr J Horn v Grampian Health Board (ET/4104486/2018)

4. Boots discriminated against hearing-impaired employee after failing to provide him with necessary hearing equipment

The Employment Tribunal held that a Boots employee with a severe hearing impairment had been discriminated against after the company failed to implement reasonable work adjustments in a prompt time-frame.

The Employment Tribunal ruled that there was no reasonable explanation for the delay in providing the employee with hearing equipment between December 2016 and September 2017.

Mr A Askander v Boots Management Services Ltd (ET/2206094/2018)

5. Christian doctor who refused to use transgender pronouns loses Employment Tribunal claim

The Employment Tribunal held that a doctor who had been dismissed from his position as a health and disabilities assessor at the Department for Work and Pensions after he stated that using the preferred pronouns of transgender individuals would contravene his Christian beliefs, and he could therefore not do so.

The Tribunal found that the doctor’s views were “incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the fundamental rights of others”, and that his views were therefore incapable of constituting a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.

Dr David Mackereth v (1) The Department for Work and Pensions and (2) Advanced Personnel Management Group (UK) Ltd (ET/1304602/2018)