Representing himself and also by his sister For the v Respondent — 2024

Jason Smith worked for Alpha Plus Group Limited at Wetherby Prep from 2006 and was a floating teacher from September 2019. The tribunal accepted that he developed anxiety and depression after a relationship breakdown in 2020, that the respondent obtained three occupational health reports, and that it made some adjustments. It also found, however, that the respondent did not follow the earlier stages of its Capability or Absence Policies before moving to a formal capability hearing and then dismissal.

The tribunal upheld unfair dismissal and a claim under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010. It found that the reasons relied on for dismissal - the absence record, repeated late reporting, mood swings, strict classroom management, and sleeping at work - were matters arising in consequence of the claimant's disability. Although the respondent's aims were legitimate, the tribunal held that dismissal was not a proportionate means of achieving them. It also found the process unfair under section 98(4) ERA 1996 because the claimant was moved rapidly towards dismissal without prior formal warnings or a proper structured process.

Two reasonable-adjustment claims succeeded. The tribunal held that refusing to postpone the 1 July 2022 capability hearing again was a failure to make reasonable adjustments because the claimant was not well enough to attend and had not yet had a proper formal opportunity to answer the allegations with representation. It also held that the claimant should have been allowed to bring a friend to the appeal hearing; limiting him to a work colleague or trade union representative put him at a disadvantage in the circumstances and was not shown to cause any difficulty to the respondent.

The tribunal rejected the claims based on the requirement to report sickness absence by 7.30 am. It found that, although the claimant's disability and medication made early reporting harder, the school needed early notice to arrange cover and had already allowed him leeway until 8.00 am. On the indirect-discrimination cases about the same reporting rule, the postponement of the capability hearing, and the companion restriction, the tribunal found either no sufficient evidence of group disadvantage or, in any event, that the respondent's aims were proportionate.

It also rejected the argument that the school should have obtained further up-to-date medical evidence or another occupational health report before dismissing him, noting that three OH reports had already been obtained and that consultation or assessment is not itself a reasonable adjustment. The hearing was liability-only; remedy was left to a later hearing listed for 12 and 13 August 2024. On Polkey, the tribunal estimated a 50% chance that, if a fair structured process had been followed, the claimant would still have been dismissed about six months later, around 1 January 2023.