Miss L Halsall, Counsel For the v Respondent — 2024

Sharon Blake, a long-serving nurse at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, was dismissed on capability grounds on 26 October 2022, with 11 January 2023 as her effective date of termination. The tribunal found that, by the dismissal date, the respondent knew or ought to have known that she had disabilities including depression/stress and spinal stenosis, and that her absence was connected with those conditions. It accepted that some adjustments had been made for her arm and hand pain, but found that Occupational Health had also recommended redeployment and that the respondent did not properly pursue that option outside her department.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal held that the respondent’s procedure was unfair because the appeal was treated as withdrawn instead of being rescheduled, despite the claimant repeatedly saying she wanted to attend and was trying to find a date with her union representative. It also found that the Stage 3 decision-maker did not properly address the claimant’s grievance/complaint about her line manager, did not obtain or await an up-to-date Occupational Health report dealing with the later mental health issues, and did not properly explore the significance of the claimant’s stress at work, bereavements, or possible redeployment across the wider Trust. The tribunal considered those omissions material to both the process and the substantive fairness of dismissal.

On section 15 Equality Act 2010, the tribunal found that the unfavourable treatment was the claimant’s dismissal for inability to work and sickness absence arising from disability. It accepted that the respondent was pursuing legitimate aims relating to attendance, patient safety and workload, but held that dismissal at that time was not a proportionate means of achieving those aims. On reasonable adjustments, the tribunal found a continuing failure from 25 May 2022 onwards to take reasonable steps to explore redeployment to a suitable alternative post, and held that claim was in time as a continuing omission and, if necessary, should in any event be allowed on a just and equitable basis. Remedy was left to a hearing listed for 28 to 30 April 2025.