Mr Danny Lee v New Era Fuels Limited — 2022

Mr Danny Lee was employed as an HGV driver and had dyslexia, which the tribunal accepted amounted to a disability. The redundancy process at the Tonbridge depot took place during the first lockdown period, and all four drivers at that depot were made redundant. The tribunal found that New Era Fuels ought to have known about Mr Lee's dyslexia from a March 2020 medical form, and that once Ms Finch became aware of it she ensured that letters and emails were read out to him.

The tribunal accepted that the redundancy exercise was rushed, that the drivers were told they were at risk on 14 July 2020, had a video consultation on 17 July 2020, and were dismissed on 23 July 2020. It also recorded that there was no right of appeal in Mr Lee's dismissal letter. However, it noted that it was not dealing with unfair dismissal because Mr Lee did not have the qualifying service for that claim.

On the reasonable adjustments complaint, the tribunal held that the relevant provision, criterion or practice was the redundancy process itself. It found that, once the company realised Mr Lee was dyslexic, Ms Finch took extra steps to explain matters and read out the written material. The tribunal concluded that Mr Lee did not suffer a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled workers because the same short consultation period, working arrangements and notice applied to all four drivers, and a face-to-face meeting would have helped all of them rather than him alone.

On the indirect discrimination complaint, the tribunal found that the redundancy process was the same for all the drivers and that there was no particular disadvantage caused to Mr Lee by reason of his dyslexia. It therefore dismissed the disability discrimination complaint in full. The judgment also recorded that the depot later reopened, but no steps were taken to contact those who had been made redundant.