Mr Leonard Worby v Royal Mail Group Limited — 2023

The remaining claims before the tribunal were framed under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010. The claimant relied on alleged unfavourable treatment concerning the handling of his grievance about the behaviour of a subordinate employee, including delay, the grievance not being upheld, and the appeal not being upheld.

The tribunal found that, following industrial injuries and osteoarthritis of the left knee, the claimant had moved with consent from outdoor postal delivery work to sedentary in-office administrative and management work as an adjustment. It also found that the claimant's later conflict with a subordinate and allegations of bullying and harassment were not pleaded as particulars of unlawful discrimination.

The tribunal concluded that the pleaded case did not show an arguable sufficient causal link between disability and the grievance-related treatment complained of. It found that the claimant's argument treated later events as discriminatory because they followed his reassignment, but did not plead that the conduct of the grievance process was itself tainted by disability-related considerations. The section 15 disability discrimination claims were therefore struck out as having no reasonable prospect of success.