Miss C Condon v Inverclyde Community Development Trust — 2025

The claimant, Miss C Condon, started work as an employment support worker on 10 October 2023 and was accepted to be disabled by reason of depression. She brought unfair dismissal and disability discrimination claims after resigning on 1 February 2025, but the unfair dismissal claim was withdrawn at a preliminary hearing because she did not have two years' service.

The tribunal applied section 13 of the Equality Act 2010, together with the comparison requirement in section 23 and the burden-of-proof approach in section 136. It accepted that the respondent knew of the claimant's disability, but found that none of her absences had been recorded as due to depression and that she did not raise any formal concern during the return-to-work meetings that her mental health was deteriorating. The tribunal made positive findings that the reasons for the treatment complained of were not because of disability.

On the allegation about medical certificates, the tribunal found that the requirement arose after the claimant's absences reached the level where the respondent would intervene on absence management, and that it was based on the level of absence rather than disability. On the hours and workload complaints, the tribunal found that the claimant was not in the same material position as the comparator, Ms Percival, whose hours were reduced for health reasons, and that the January 2025 redistribution of caseloads was a response to an imbalance across the team rather than anything linked to the claimant's depression.

On the remaining complaints, the tribunal found that there was no investigation into the claimant herself, only an investigation into Mr Craig Wilson's absences and the overlap between absences in the small team. It also found that the respondent did not refuse a reference: it issued factual references in line with its policy, including to Barnardos and Marie Curie. The tribunal therefore dismissed the disability discrimination claim as not well-founded.