Last reviewed: 22 June 2022
This selection of legal cases demonstrate employers’ various legal duties to prevent discrimination and treat disabled applicants and candidates fairly.
Archibald v Fife Council
- A woman was working as a road sweeper when she acquired a disability that meant she needed a sedentary job.
- She was told she had to compete for alternative jobs with the council because all desk-based jobs were at a higher grade.
- She was dismissed after over one hundred unsuccessful applications.
- The House of Lords found that this was disability discrimination. The onus was not on the disabled person to apply for alternative jobs or redeployment.
- The employer had a duty to transfer her to a suitable alternative vacancy as a reasonable adjustment – and a suitable vacancy might mean a move up, down, or sideways.
Read the full details of the case: Archibald v Fife Council.
BT v Meier Recruitment
- A disabled candidate who had Asperger’s syndrome was disadvantaged by a situational judgement test.
- The employer refused to interview him because he failed this test – despite guaranteeing interviews to all disabled candidates who met the minimum criteria for the role.
- The court held that the employer had failed to make reasonable adjustments for the candidate.
- It is not for the disabled person to identify adjustments. The duty is on the employer to identify and implement reasonable adjustments that would remove or reduce the disadvantages the recruitment process causes to the disabled person.
Read the full details of the case: BT v Meier Recruitment.
Cherrington v The Home Office
- A disabled woman who had dyslexia and sight loss was unable to start a job she was offered because of computer software compatibility problems.
- She was offered an alternative position but was unable to do the job because her employer failed to make reasonable adjustments for her in that role because of the cost quoted by its outsourced IT provider.
- The Tribunal said that a service level agreement with an outsourced IT provider was not a defence for a failure to make reasonable adjustments.
- The employer used paid disability leave as an excuse for not making adjustments and failed to act on Access to Work recommendations.
- It also wrongly suggested she should apply and compete for alternative positions within the organisation rather than transferring her to a suitable alternative position as the law requires.
- She was awarded £14,000 in compensation for injury to feelings.
Read the full details of the case: Cherrington v The Home Office.
Government Legal Services v Brookes
- A disabled candidate who had Asperger’s (an autism spectrum disorder or ASD) had been discriminated against by an employer’s refusal to make reasonable adjustments to a multiple-choice Situational Judgement Test.
- The Court found the employer liable for indirect discrimination, a failure to make reasonable adjustments and discrimination arising out of Ms Brooke’s disability.
Read the full details of the case: Government Legal Services v Brookes.
© This resource and the information therein are subject to copyright and remain the property of the Business Disability Forum. It is for reference only and must not be copied or distributed without prior permission.
If you require this resource in a different format, contact enquiries@businessdisabilityforum.org.uk.