in person For the v Mr C Kelly — 2020

The tribunal found that the claimant, a Pentecostal Christian employed by Marks & Spencer, was disabled by reason of arthritis in her left knee no later than 24 March 2016. It accepted that the condition caused variable but substantial adverse effects on everyday activities, including walking, standing, climbing stairs and household tasks, and that the respondent knew of the condition from the occupational health report dated 24 March 2016.

The reasonable adjustments claim failed because the tribunal did not accept that the respondent imposed a requirement on the claimant to stack shelves in the chilled food area. It found that she was employed as a manager whose duty was to oversee the department, not personally to do the shelf-stacking work, and that she was free to instruct others to do it. The tribunal also found the evidence did not show a substantial disadvantage arising from a physical feature, and that any difficulty from the fridges had in any event been removed when the claimant moved to womenswear on 10 September 2018.

The religion discrimination claim concerned the respondent's identification of available managerial roles after the claimant sought to leave her café manager position. The tribunal found that Mr Bowman identified the only managerial post then available because the claimant wanted to return to management, and that Ms Gajetic later identified two further posts because they were the only feasible managerial vacancies. It rejected the contention that the offers were made because of the claimant's religion, and held that the comparator would have been treated the same way. The tribunal also rejected the alternative harassment case, finding no evidence of purpose or effect amounting to harassment under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010. No indirect discrimination claim was pursued on the pleaded case, and all claims were dismissed.