Dr Christian Mallon v Top Spark Recruitment (Dissolved) and 1 other — 2022

Dr Mallon applied on 9 August 2022 for an R&D Tax role advertised by Top Spark Recruitment, using a generic CV that included a request for reasonable adjustment. He asked for the essential criteria by email so that, if appropriate, he could make a bespoke verbal application. The tribunal also recorded that the first respondent had been dissolved in January 2024, so the claims against it were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had Dyspraxia, ADHD and Autism, and that the respondent knew of the disability by around 9 August 2022 after the initial email. It found that the respondent's first email, containing 16 generic questions, was sent before proper knowledge of the adjustment request. The questions were treated as basic screening questions, with only one requiring bespoke input.

On 12 August 2022 the respondent telephoned the claimant. The tribunal found the call lasted about one minute and was ended by the claimant. It found that the claimant did not use the opportunity to answer the questions or engage further with the recruitment process, and that the application failed to progress because of his own conduct rather than because of disability. The section 15 discrimination arising from disability claim was therefore dismissed, with the tribunal also accepting that the respondent had a legitimate and proportionate screening aim.

The reasonable adjustments claim under sections 20 and 21 also failed. The tribunal held that the alleged PCPs were not established as operating in the way alleged, or were not embedded PCPs at all, and that in any event the claimant had not shown a substantial disadvantage because he could answer the basic questions in writing and any remaining matters could have been addressed on the telephone call he terminated. The judgment was a liability-only decision, so no remedy was assessed.