Mrs NJ Dunn v The Chief Constable of Northumbria Police — 2023

The claimant, a police constable in the Telephone Investigation Unit, was accepted by the respondent to be disabled by reason of PTSD and IBS. Her claims concerned requirements connected with returning officers to office-based work, including attending the office for training, CPD and one-to-one meetings, after a period of home working.

For the reasonable adjustments claim, the Tribunal found that the respondent had the relevant PCPs, they put the claimant at a substantial disadvantage, and the respondent knew or could reasonably have been expected to know of that disadvantage. It found, however, that by 9 December 2022 Northumbria Police had taken steps that removed the disadvantage, including continued homeworking as a reasonable adjustment with planned office attendance for specified purposes and additional flexibility.

For indirect disability discrimination, the Tribunal found that the PCPs were applied and placed disabled persons, and the claimant, at a particular disadvantage. It accepted the respondent's legitimate aim of providing efficient and acceptable policing services and found the PCPs, in their adjusted form, were an appropriate and reasonably necessary means of achieving that aim, with no practicable less discriminatory alternative.