Mr R John v Select Service Partner UK Ltd — 2021

The tribunal refused the claimant's late postponement application and proceeded in his absence. It considered the medical evidence, the history of non-compliance and non-attendance, the lack of a witness statement, and the uncertain prospect of an effective hearing within a reasonable further period. The respondent did not pursue its strike-out application.

The respondent conceded disability from March 2021, but the tribunal did not find that the claimant was disabled before that point. It found that the respondent ought reasonably to have known of the claimant's disability by 20 or 21 April 2021, when he provided further information about ocular migraine, referral to Moorfields and the duration of his symptoms.

On the reasonable adjustments claim, the tribunal found no practice of not copying the claimant's union representative into emails; rather, after the respondent was asked to copy the representative in, there were occasional inadvertent failures. It was not satisfied on the evidence that the alleged PCP caused the claimed disadvantage. For furlough, the tribunal found the relevant policy was not allowing employees to stay on furlough when their unit was open, workers were required, and the employee did not fall within the government guidance. The tribunal held that keeping the claimant on furlough was not a reasonable adjustment because he did not fall within a category where furlough could lawfully be used, and the adjustment was analogous to paying extra sick pay.

The harassment claim failed because the tribunal found no proscribed purpose or effect, and no relationship between the failures to copy in the union representative and the claimant's disability. The unlawful deductions claim failed because the claimant had no contractual right to be on furlough or to be paid furlough pay during periods when it would not have been lawful for him to be furloughed.