Ms F Chughtai v The Secretary of State for Justice — 2020

The respondent accepted that the claimant's hypothyroidism was a disability within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010. The section 15 claim was withdrawn during the proceedings, and the remaining claim concerned alleged failure to make reasonable adjustments in relation to the claimant's home workstation during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The tribunal found that the respondent had constructive knowledge of the claimant's disability by February 2020, because further enquiries and an occupational health referral should reasonably have been considered. However, it found that the respondent did not have actual or constructive knowledge that the alleged PCP was likely to place the claimant at the relevant substantial disadvantage, including after the claimant raised pain connected with her workstation and after the occupational health report.

The tribunal found that, once lockdown began, the claimant was obliged to work at home with the workstation she had, and that this amounted to a PCP. It also found, on balance, that the PCP placed her at a disadvantage compared with non-disabled persons. However, the claimant had accepted that a risk assessment was not itself a reasonable adjustment, and the tribunal concluded there was no adequate evidence that provision of a larger desk had even a very small chance of alleviating or ameliorating the disadvantage. The reasonable adjustments claim was therefore dismissed.