Ms L Moffatt v The Council of the City of Wakefield — 2024

Ms Moffatt worked for the Council as a contract worker supplied through agency arrangements from 12 September 2022. The unfair dismissal claim had already been withdrawn, and direct sex discrimination claims were withdrawn at the end of the hearing. The tribunal also rejected a strike-out application at the start, finding that a fair trial remained possible.

The tribunal rejected the allegation that the 24 October 2022 welfare meeting with Ms Windsor was unfavourable treatment. It found the meeting was supportive, that Ms Windsor updated herself about the claimant's condition, lifted the temporary driving restriction, and sought to reassure her. The claimant's account that she was disbelieved or subjected to derogatory remarks was not accepted as amounting to a detriment.

By contrast, the tribunal upheld the pregnancy discrimination complaint about ending the assignment on 31 October 2022. It found the claimant's managers knew about the ectopic pregnancy, the tumour and the ongoing treatment, and inferred that the early termination was because of pregnancy-related illness. The respondent's later explanation that the team was fully staffed and that the claimant was being removed because of a trust issue was not accepted as having displaced the burden under section 136(2) EqA. The case was listed for a remedy hearing; the tribunal noted the assignment would have ended by 24 November 2022 in any event and that any earnings loss might be limited because surgery was on 10 November 2022 and the claimant had no sick pay.

The tribunal found the claimant's gallbladder condition was a disability from 27 June 2022, applying the statutory definition and the authorities on likelihood and timing of long-term effect. The disability discrimination claim nevertheless failed because the respondent did not know and could not reasonably have been expected to know that she had that disability.