June 23, 2016

Loosening of causal link for discrimination arising from disability claims

The employee was dismissed for misconduct when he lost his temper after he learned that the employer had decided to move a course which he was due to attend to a venue which he could not access because of his need to use a wheelchair. The employee’s tendency to be short tempered was a personality trait which was unrelated to his disability.  However the EAT took the decision that the situation only arose because he was disabled and it was therefore wrong for the Tribunal to find that the misconduct was unrelated to his disability : he had only lost his temper because he could not go to the course when the venue was changed because of its inaccessibility for wheelchair users.

The case was remitted back to the Tribunal for a rehearing.

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