Ms S Phillips v Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust — 2020

Ms Phillips was employed as a bereavement counsellor and her employment transferred to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust in November 2016. Her disability, asthma, was not in dispute. The claim concerned two disability discrimination complaints: a section 15 claim arising from a grievance meeting on 22 January 2019, and a section 20 reasonable adjustments claim concerning desk arrangements, storage, and access to counselling rooms.

On the section 15 claim, the tribunal found as a fact that there had not been a request to postpone the grievance meeting. It concluded that there was therefore no unfavourable treatment to which the respondent needed to answer, and in any event it did not see any connection with disability. The tribunal noted that the claimant's later appeal made a postponement request clearer, but that was not the position at the time of the grievance meeting.

On the reasonable adjustments claim, the tribunal accepted that the respondent had applied PCPs requiring hot desking, limited storage, and the use of counselling rooms as available. It found that the claimant had already been effectively hot desking for some time, that the respondent had acted reasonably in trying to accommodate her asthma by avoiding the need to walk outside in cold conditions, and that the proposed work locations and storage arrangements did not place her at a substantial disadvantage compared with a non-disabled person. It also found no substantial disadvantage from the counselling room arrangements, noting that there had been only a small number of booking incidents and that suitable rooms were available in close proximity.

The tribunal referred to sections 15, 20 and 136 Equality Act 2010, and to Pnaiser v NHS England, Sheikholeslami v University of Edinburgh, Project Management Institute v Latif, and Smith v Churchills Stairlifts plc. It dismissed both claims and vacated the listed remedy hearing.