In person For the v Respondent — 2022

Mrs E Kavanagh, who had bipolar affective disorder, was offered a Band 5 nurse post in CCATT while she was finishing her nursing studies. Occupational Health later advised adjustments, including no night shifts, a fixed pattern, and no long-distance driving at night, after she raised concerns about driving in the dark and fatigue. The tribunal accepted that the claimant was disabled and that the respondent was dealing with a difficult recruitment and deployment process, including a later discovery that no substantive Band 5 CCATT post description could be found.

The tribunal dismissed the direct discrimination, harassment and victimisation complaints. It found that many of the alleged incidents did not happen as alleged, others were based on misunderstandings of emails, supervision notes, or workplace practice, and others were ordinary management decisions. It found no hostile material about the claimant's diagnosis, no conspiracy to remove her because of disability, and no protected act played any part in the later decisions complained of. The judgment records withdrawals of issues 17, 18, 19, 33, 36, 54, 58 and 71, and says some other listed points were contingent and did not require separate adjudication.

On reasonable adjustments, the tribunal accepted that the respondent's PCPs required Band 5 nurses to work across Watford, Radlett and Stevenage and to rotate shifts, and that this placed the claimant at a substantial disadvantage because of her mental health and medication. It held that the respondent did offer reasonable adjustments, including daytime shifts, fixed or flexible working, a mentor, stress risk assessment, and alternative Band 5 roles, but that it was not reasonable to require the Trust to base her only at Watford or to guarantee avoidance of long-distance travel and driving in the dark. The claim was dismissed after a liability-only hearing, so no remedy was awarded.