Mr A Pitts v Rural Retreats & Leisure Ltd — 2018

Employment Judge T. Vincent Ryan found that Mr A Pitts's wrongly labelled indirect disability discrimination complaint was to be treated as a claim under section 15 Equality Act 2010. The tribunal upheld the disability discrimination claims: it found that Rural Retreats & Leisure Ltd directly discriminated by dismissing him because of disability, that it treated him unfavourably because of something arising in consequence of disability when it reduced his hours and required him to accept a revised contract in March 2017, and that it failed to comply with the duty to make reasonable adjustments in relation to duties subject to imposed time constraints and expectations.

The tribunal also found that Mr Pitts was unfairly dismissed on 9 August 2017, that the respondent failed to pay holiday pay due on termination, and that it failed to comply with an applicable code of practice in relation to the dismissal. The code-of-practice failure resulted in a 25% uplift to the unfair dismissal award. It also accepted the claimant's breach of contract claim for notice pay, finding that he was entitled to 12 weeks' statutory notice.

The award totalled £27,907.42. This comprised a basic award of £4,334 and a compensatory award of £13,162.98 for unfair dismissal before the 25% uplift of £3,290.75, bringing that head to £16,453.73. The tribunal also awarded £2,304 for notice pay, £8,500 for injury to feelings plus £457.69 interest on the disability discrimination claim, and £192 for five days' net holiday pay. Recoupment provisions applied to the period 9 August 2017 to 4 April 2018.