Disability Discrimination: Reasonable Adjustments

Mr. Miller was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was no longer able to carry out his role as a pest control technician for Rentokil. He was unsuccessful in his application for an alternative role as an administrator due to his low scores in a written test and an unsatisfactory interview.

Mr. M was successful in bringing claims for discrimination arising from disability and unfair dismissal in the tribunal. The tribunal ruled that Rentokil had failed to make a reasonable adjustment by not offering him a trial period for the administrator role. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld the tribunal's decision.

The tribunal considered that having heard all the evidence, it would have been reasonable to offer Mr. M a trial period since there was a reasonable chance that he would have performed better than the recruitment process suggested.