Mr N Whalley v Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council — 2024

The claimant, Mr N Whalley, brought complaints of unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal, direct disability discrimination, unfavourable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability, failure to make reasonable adjustments, and a Working Time Regulations 1998 annual leave complaint, against Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. The respondent conceded that the claimant was a disabled person at all relevant times by reason of calcium deposits causing a musculo-skeletal condition. The hearing took place at Manchester before Employment Judge McDonald sitting with Ms A Gilchrist and Mr B J McCaughey over 4-7 March 2024, with deliberations in chambers on 28 May 2024.

The Tribunal granted an amendment during the hearing to add a further direct disability discrimination complaint concerning the Ian Leach Role, applying Selkent Bus Company Limited v Moore and Vaughan v Modality Partnership and balancing hardship and injustice. The annual leave complaint under the Working Time Regulations 1998 was withdrawn and dismissed on withdrawal. All remaining complaints, namely unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal, direct disability discrimination (including the amended Ian Leach Role complaint), discrimination arising from disability under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010, and failure to make reasonable adjustments, were found by the Tribunal to be not well-founded and were dismissed.

No monetary award was made because all substantive claims failed. The middle portion of the judgment text was not available to this extraction, so the detailed reasoning supporting each individual finding has not been fully reproduced here; confidence in the outcomes is high because they are taken directly from the judgment dispositive section, while confidence in the supporting findings precis is reduced.