Ms M Watt and Mr D Frew Mr M McCafferty v Represented by: Ms L Neil - Solicitor Department for Work and Pensions — 2022

Mr McCafferty was a continuing Department for Work and Pensions employee working as a Universal Credit Work Coach. The tribunal accepted that he had gastroparesis, which was a disability under the Equality Act 2010, and that the respondent operated an internal Travel to Work policy intended to mirror Access to Work for disabled staff who needed more expensive transport arrangements. The claimant had an occupational health report and a Workplace Adjustment Passport before he started work, and the dispute concerned reimbursement of commuting costs between Glasgow and Saltcoats and when he should be required to attend the office.

The tribunal upheld two section 15 complaints. It found that refusing to pay additional travel costs was unfavourable treatment because of the claimant's need to travel by car arising from disability, and that the refusal was not justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. It also found that not asking him back to the Saltcoats office in June 2021 was unfavourable treatment arising from disability. That complaint was initially out of time, but the tribunal extended time as just and equitable because the delay was short and the claimant had been trying to resolve the matter internally.

On victimisation, the tribunal treated the January 2021 Workplace Adjustment Passport request as a protected act, and also treated the tribunal claim as a protected act. It held that not being asked back in June 2021 was a detriment caused by the reasonable-adjustment request. By contrast, the December 2021 instruction to work full time in the office and the later caseload allocation were found not to be because of either protected act and were dismissed.

For remedy, the tribunal awarded financial loss of £2,370.17. That figure comprised travel-cost compensation calculated on 35p per mile for 105 days at 31 miles each way, with the claimant's normal travel cost treated as nil because the tribunal accepted that he was likely entitled to a free bus pass, plus £91.67 for lost pay during sickness absence caused by the delay in deciding the travel claim. It awarded £15,000 for injury to feelings, placing the case in the middle Vento band, and £1,176.99 interest on that award from 4 August 2021. The overall monetary award was £18,547.16.