Mr R Evans v Jaguar Land Rover Limited — 2021

The claimant, a production operative with asthma, was dismissed after sickness absences managed under the respondent's attendance management process. The tribunal found that most of the claimant's absences arose in consequence of his asthma, including linked mental health difficulties, and that dismissal was unfavourable treatment because of something arising from disability. However, it accepted the respondent's aims of maintaining quality, maintaining production timescales, reducing absence to competitive levels and avoiding redundancies, and concluded that dismissal was objectively proportionate for the section 15 Equality Act claim.

The reasonable adjustments claim concerned the requirement to work rotating shifts and the alleged adjustment of fixed morning shifts. The tribunal found that the claimant had not proved that rotating shifts caused a substantial disadvantage related to his asthma or mental health beyond ordinary shift-work sleep disruption. It also found that the respondent did not know and could not reasonably have been expected to know of such a disadvantage, and that the claim was outside the tribunal's jurisdiction because it was brought out of time.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal found that capability was the principal reason for dismissal and was a potentially fair reason. It held that the respondent did not take proper steps to investigate the claimant's absence, likely return, or possible support before dismissal; that the referral to employment review was affected by a misunderstanding about the expiry of a fit note; and that the appeal did not properly review the process. It found the dismissal outside the range of reasonable responses, applied a 50% Polkey chance of dismissal within a further year, found no significant contributory fault, and held that a 10% ACAS uplift was appropriate.