Mr C Jackson v Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited — 2021

The claimant, who had diabetes and diabetic retinopathy and was registered blind/partially sighted, had worked for the respondent since 1998 and in the café from 2012. The tribunal found that from 2012 he was employed as a dishwasher or pot washer, rather than as a generic Customer Assistant, and that this was the role which later ceased to exist.

The disability discrimination claims were dismissed. For discrimination arising from disability and indirect discrimination, the tribunal accepted that dismissal was connected to the claimant's inability to perform the majority of the café's nine key skills and that the nine-key-skills PCP disadvantaged him. It found dismissal was not proportionate for customer service or business flexibility aims alone, but was proportionate for the legitimate aim of meeting hygiene and cleanliness standards because the claimant could not see whether washed items were clean and no practicable alternative was identified that removed the cross-contamination concern.

The reasonable adjustments claim was dismissed. The tribunal found that allowing the claimant to continue in a dishwasher/pot washer only role had previously enabled him to remain in work, but by mid-2018 it was not a reasonable adjustment because it did not enable him to carry out the dishwashing role effectively and safely. Suggested alternatives, including gloves or another employee checking each item, were found not to be practicable or effective.

The unfair dismissal claim succeeded. The tribunal found the principal reason for dismissal was redundancy, because the respondent no longer wished to employ someone only to carry out dishwashing/pot washing, but the respondent did not conduct genuine full and fair redundancy consultation and the appeal process had further procedural failings. The tribunal held that the claimant would have been dismissed in any event at the same date after a fair procedure, so any compensatory award should be reduced by 100%, and that he was entitled to a statutory redundancy payment.