Ms J Kasprzak v Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust — 2025

Ms J Kasprzak worked for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as a floating Ward Catering Assistant from 4 July 2022. She was dismissed on 19 September 2023 after a series of sickness absences linked to fibromyalgia and after unsuccessful attempts at redeployment. The tribunal found that the respondent knew of the claimant’s disability and that the key issue was not knowledge, but whether the dismissal and earlier management steps were lawful under the Equality Act 2010.

The harassment complaints, both race-related and disability-related, were dismissed because they were brought out of time. Applying section 123 Equality Act 2010 and the Keeble factors, the tribunal held that the complaints were substantially late and that it was not just and equitable to extend time. It found that the delay and lack of contemporaneous records seriously affected the cogency of the evidence. The tribunal made only limited factual observations on the alleged comments by Michelle France and Adriana Verschoor, and said it was unlikely that the discriminatory comments alleged by the claimant had been made, but it did not need to make definitive findings because the complaints were time-barred.

On discrimination arising from disability, the tribunal accepted that the claimant’s sickness absence arose in consequence of fibromyalgia and that dismissal was unfavourable treatment. It accepted the respondent’s aims of maintaining staffing levels, patient safety and efficient service delivery as legitimate. However, it held that dismissal was not a proportionate means of achieving those aims because the claimant had not been properly supported through redeployment, the panel did not properly consider the combined possibility of shorter hours and smaller wards, and a less discriminatory course remained available. That claim was therefore upheld.

On reasonable adjustments, the tribunal found that the respondent applied a PCP requiring the claimant to work on larger, busier wards, which involved more walking and greater pressure, and that this placed her at a substantial disadvantage because of fibromyalgia. It rejected the alleged PCP of having to work in an environment of conflict with Michelle France because that situation did not have the repetition or potential repetition needed for a PCP. The tribunal held that reducing ward size alone would not have removed the disadvantage, but redeployment, properly supported by HR and management in line with the respondent’s policy, might have done so. The respondent failed to provide that support, so the reasonable adjustments claim succeeded. Remedy was left for a later hearing.