Justifying a failure to adjust

Case 2: The facts

Miss Hall had a psychiatric condition that required her to take medication, but she did not provide information about this disability when she applied for her job. After being dismissed for unacceptable behaviour, she claimed that her dismissal had been discriminatory.

Her employer said it had not known that Hall had a disability. It also argued that its failure to make adjustments had been justified on the grounds that they would have made no difference, since Hall had refused to take medication for her condition.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld Hall's claim of disability discrimination. It held that the employer had had "constructive knowledge" of her disability, even though she had not mentioned it herself, because she had submitted a request for disability tax credit which both her manager and the human resources department had seen. The employer should therefore have considered that Hall's behaviour was a result of her disability; had it done so, it could have found her alternative employment as a reasonable adjustment.

The EAT accepted that Hall's refusal to take medication meant that any adjustments would have made no difference. (It accordingly reduced her compensation to an injury-to-feelings award.) However, it said this did not exempt the employer from its duty to make adjustments.

Department of Work and Pensions v Hall UKEAT/0012/05