Mr R Phillips v Bournemouth and Poole college — 2022

Mr Phillips was selected for redundancy by Bournemouth & Poole College and his employment ended on 31 July 2019. The respondent conceded that the dismissal was unfair, including because the scoring process was flawed and because a suitable alternative vacancy created by Miss Lewis's resignation should have been offered to him. The tribunal also recorded that an indirect discrimination claim had previously been withdrawn on 9 July 2021.

The main liability issue was whether the college knew, or could reasonably have been expected to know, that Mr Phillips was disabled by reason of stress, anxiety and depression at the material times. Applying the approach in A Ltd v Z and Gallop, the tribunal held that early references to stress did not yet amount to notice of a mental health impairment, but that by April or May 2018, and certainly by the time of the redundancy process and appeal in 2019, the college had enough information from occupational health reports, sick notes, correspondence, return-to-work meetings and HR involvement to conclude that he had depression and anxiety with a substantial adverse effect.

On section 15 Equality Act 2010, the tribunal found that the redundancy matrix disadvantaged Mr Phillips because no marks were awarded for parts of the scoring where the absence of appraisal data arose from his disability-related sickness absence. On sections 20 and 21, it found that the performance-scoring PCP substantially disadvantaged him and that the respondent should have adjusted the process, including by using other records or a different basis for scoring. The tribunal concluded that, without the discrimination and scoring errors, he would not have been selected for redundancy, and it listed the case for a remedies hearing.