Miss A Henry v Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust Heard: in public by CVP — 2025

Miss A Henry worked for Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust from 1 November 2021 to 31 August 2023. She was disabled by autism and dyslexia, which the respondent accepted. After an Access to Work assessment on 6 April 2022, a report dated 7 April recommended equipment, subscription services, training and coaching. The tribunal found that the respondent did not implement those recommendations, and that the claimant tried to work without the adjustments but became stressed and exhausted.

The issue at this preliminary hearing was whether the disability reasonable-adjustments complaint had been presented in time. The tribunal held that time started on 12 July 2023, when the respondent told the claimant she was being placed on medical suspension, because that was an act inconsistent with making the adjustments. It rejected the respondent's submission that time ran from July 2022, 13 weeks after the Access to Work report. On that basis, the primary time limit expired on 11 October 2023 and early conciliation began on 29 November 2023, making the claim 49 days late.

Applying the just and equitable test under section 123 of the Equality Act 2010, the tribunal extended time. It accepted that the claimant struggled because of her disabilities to complete the relevant forms, had received incorrect advice from her trade union, chose to pursue an internal grievance before issuing proceedings, and experienced delay from her trade union between September and November 2023. The tribunal also found that a 7-week delay was unlikely to affect the cogency of the evidence, that the respondent had not shown any prejudice from the delay, and that the claim had good prospects because the grievance outcome had already accepted that reasonable adjustments had not been made. The respondent's strike-out application on limitation grounds was therefore dismissed and the tribunal held that it had jurisdiction to hear the claim.