Reasonable adjustments

Case 12: The facts

Mr Staples had a heart condition and was dismissed for incapacity after being off sick for 18 months. A tribunal said his employer was guilty of disability-related discrimination as it had not considered a phased return, reduced responsibilities or alternative employment. It added that a failure to continue paying him full sick pay beyond the end of his contractual entitlement was discrimination.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) said the tribunal had not given adequate reasons for deciding that the employer had failed to make reasonable adjustments, as it had not identified any steps that could have been taken which would have prevented the dismissal. The case was sent back for the tribunal to reconsider this matter.

The EAT also ruled that there was no requirement for the employer to pay full pay when Staples’s sick pay ran out, unless the tribunal found that it had failed to make adjustments that would have enabled him to return to work.

E A Gibson Shipbrokers Ltd v Staples UKEAT/0263/07