Ms Bethan Oakley v EE Limited — 2021

The tribunal found that the claimant was disabled within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 by reason of PTSD, anxiety and depression. It accepted that the respondent knew of her disability, including through RehabWorks material and a coaching discussion shortly before the events in question.

The tribunal preferred the claimant's account of the key interactions on 27 September 2019. It found that Mr Roberts spoke to and behaved towards her in a way that caused significant distress, continued raising the same matters after she became upset, and applied undue pressure for her to return to work when she was distressed and unable to work. The tribunal held that the distress or panic attack and inability to work arose in consequence of her disability, and that the respondent had not shown the treatment was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

The tribunal held that the same conduct amounted to harassment related to disability because it was unwanted, related to disability, and had the effect of violating the claimant's dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading and humiliating environment. It did not find that the conduct related to sex, and dismissed the sex harassment complaint.

For constructive unfair dismissal, the tribunal found that the conduct on 27 September 2019 amounted to a repudiatory breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. The claimant did not affirm the contract by withdrawing her first resignation while raising a grievance and staying away from the workplace pending its outcome. The tribunal found the grievance outcome was too narrowly focused, but that the grievance investigator acted objectively and genuinely; the victimisation claim was therefore dismissed because the grievance rejection was not because the claimant had done a protected act.