Mrs C Willisch v Upton Hall School FCJ — 2021

Mrs C Willisch was found to have been disabled with anxiety and depression at all relevant times. She had worked for Upton Hall School FCJ since 2008, became a Head of Year in 2009, and worked part-time from 2011. The tribunal accepted that her workload and particular confrontational situations became harder for her from January 2018, and found that by 2 February 2018 the school, through Mrs Young, knew that she was struggling to cope and that this was linked to her history of depression and anxiety.

On the reasonable adjustments claim, the tribunal upheld two specific failures. It found that the respondent should have removed responsibility for the EPQ students more quickly after the 2 February 2018 meeting, and that it should have proactively offered, in the 30 January 2019 and 28 March 2019 absence-review letters, the options of written representations and a proxy representative rather than leaving the claimant to request adjustments. The tribunal also recorded a limited success on the related point about making clear what adjustments were being provided. Other alleged failures, including additional administrative support, were rejected or found not to be within jurisdiction, and some complaints were treated as time-barred or not part of the same continuing act.

The separate claim for discrimination arising from disability, based on the dismissal decision of 24 October 2019, was dismissed. The tribunal found that the dismissal was treated as unfavourable, and that the reason was the claimant's long-term sickness absence arising from her disability, but held that the respondent had legitimate aims in running the school efficiently, reducing costs, and maintaining teaching and pastoral care. It concluded that dismissal was a proportionate means of achieving those aims, and that the available alternatives, including waiting indefinitely, ill-health retirement, and further occupational health referral, did not make dismissal disproportionate. A further hearing was listed to determine remedy on the successful reasonable adjustments complaints.