Mrs K Rooney v The Co-Operative Group Ltd — 2025

The claimant, a former Member Pioneer, applied for five internal roles after her role was placed at risk of redundancy. The respondent accepted for the purposes of the case that autism was a disability, but disputed knowledge at relevant times. The tribunal found the respondent knew of the claimant's disability only from her June 2024 CV and screening responses, and not before the redundancy announcement.

On direct disability discrimination, the tribunal found that the claimant had not tailored her CV to the specific roles and that the relevant decision-makers rejected or did not appoint her for reasons connected with the requirements of the roles, including evidence of Excel, Access, SAP, analytical or role-specific experience. It found those reasons were unrelated to disability and that the claimant had not been treated less favourably than a hypothetical non-disabled comparator.

On reasonable adjustments, the tribunal found the respondent did announce the at-risk position by scripted remote call with multiple attendees, but did not have the pleaded PCP of giving no opportunity for follow-up discussion or clarification. The claimant was offered and attended one-to-one consultation meetings and had follow-up communications. The tribunal also found the respondent lacked actual or constructive knowledge of disability at the time of the announcement.

On indirect sex discrimination, the tribunal recognised the childcare disparity and found there was a PCP that interviewees should provide examples from the last two years. However, it found the interview guidance allowed older examples where needed and that the hiring manager did not apply the PCP to the claimant, accepting that she had given a good example from before her career break. All claims were dismissed.