Reasonable Adjustments And Discrimination Arising From A Disability

Case helpfully clarifies an important aspect of the interaction between reasonable adjustments and s.15 discrimination claims.

An employer is at risk of discriminating against an employee if they treat the employee unfavourably because of something that arises in consequence of the employee's disability and the employer cannot show that the treatment of the employee is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim (s.15 Equality Act 2020 ('EqA')).

An example would be where an employee suffers from a disability which results in a higher number of days of absence and the employee is then selected for redundancy because the scoring matrix took account of attendance records and did not discount days of absence with a clear link to the employee's disability.