LAURA WHITING v Slenderella Wholesale Ltd — 2026

The unanimous tribunal found Laura Whiting's complaint that Slenderella Wholesale Ltd failed to make reasonable adjustments for disability well-founded. It also found her complaint of constructive unfair dismissal well-founded and held that she was unfairly dismissed. The underlying liability reasons were given orally and are not set out in the written judgment.

The breach-of-contract complaint concerning notice pay was well-founded. No separate notice-pay award was made because the same period of loss was compensated in the unfair dismissal award, and the claimant could not receive compensation twice for that period.

The claim under the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 succeeded. The tribunal awarded six weeks' gross pay, calculated as six times £466.66, totalling £2,799.96.

For constructive unfair dismissal, the tribunal awarded a basic award of £4,199.94, £755.90 for two weeks' loss of earnings and £3,497.40 for the difference in hourly pay from 11 December 2023 to 6 July 2026. The latter figure was based on a £1.45 hourly difference over 134 weeks at 18 hours per week. It also awarded £600 for loss of statutory rights and recorded that the Employment Protection (Recoupment of Benefits) Regulations 1996 did not apply.

For disability discrimination, the tribunal awarded £9,000 for injury to feelings and £2,029.10 interest, calculated from 11 September 2023, when the adjustments should have been in place, to 6 July 2026. It found that the respondent unreasonably failed to comply with the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures 2015 and considered a 10% uplift just and equitable under section 207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. The uplift was £1,588.24, calculated across specified unfair dismissal and discrimination sums, and the total award was £24,470.54.