Mrs P Lewis, counsel For the v Respondent — 2019

The tribunal found that Mrs N Leeks was disabled for Equality Act purposes by reason of fibromyalgia, anxiety and depression, and arthritis. She had been employed by Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust from 19 May 2014 to 20 December 2014 as a Band 5 Biomedical Scientist. The claims before the tribunal were direct disability discrimination under s13 Equality Act 2010 and victimisation under s27 Equality Act 2010, both based on negative references later given by Susan Kerry to two prospective employers in 2017.

On the evidence, the tribunal found that the claimant had genuine performance difficulties during her employment and that those difficulties were not caused directly or indirectly by disability. It accepted the contemporaneous probationary review documents, occupational health material, and management concerns about pace, task completion, and attitude. The tribunal found that the references given to Cambridge and UCL were broadly accurate and were an honest account of the claimant's period of employment, and that the two specific inaccuracies identified were not enough to undermine that conclusion.

The tribunal rejected the suggestion that the references were given because of the claimant's disability or because she had brought earlier proceedings. It found that the disability had no bearing on the content of the references and that the earlier tribunal claim, issued on 14 May 2015, was not made in bad faith and therefore was a protected act. Even so, the tribunal held that the earlier claim had absolutely no part to play in the nature or content of the references. Both claims were dismissed in their entirety, and no remedy was awarded.