M Robison Members: Ms J Torbet Ms A Shanahan Ms Alison Doran v HM Revenue and Customs — 2017

The claimant, who had type 1 diabetes, worked in HMRC's contact centre on a rotating shift pattern including later shifts. HMRC accepted she was disabled. Occupational health advised that regular meal breaks or reduced variation in start and finish times might assist her in controlling her blood sugar levels. HMRC allowed flexibility over breaks but did not implement a sustained change to her shift pattern before dismissing her for unsatisfactory attendance during probation.

The tribunal found that the absence management policy and the shift pattern placed the claimant at a substantial disadvantage. It held that HMRC had relied too heavily on business needs and on the claimant's use of break flexibility, and had placed an inappropriate onus on her to apply for an alternative working pattern. It found that changing her shifts, even for a trial period, would have been a reasonable adjustment, and that further disability-related absence should reasonably have been discounted.

For the section 15 claim, the tribunal accepted HMRC's aim of providing an efficient telephone service throughout opening hours as legitimate. However, because reasonable adjustments could have prevented dismissal at the point it occurred and because the decision makers did not have a sufficiently clear understanding of the relevant local business impact, dismissal was found disproportionate and not objectively justified. Compensation was awarded for loss of earnings to the date the claimant obtained alternative employment, plus injury to feelings at the top of the lowest Vento band.