Member S Cardownie Tribunal Member D McDougall Mr S Gourlay v HBOS plc — 2025

The claimant was dismissed from his role as a mortgage and protection adviser after a performance management process. The tribunal found that concerns about his performance had been raised from July 2023, that support was paused during wellbeing issues and absence, and that on his return he received retraining, coaching, structured support and a formal action plan before dismissal was considered.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal found that the respondent honestly believed the claimant was incapable of carrying out his role and had reasonable grounds for that belief. It found that the claimant had been informed of the respects in which his performance was considered inadequate, warned that dismissal was a possible outcome, given an opportunity to improve, allowed to be accompanied, and given an appeal. The dismissal for capability was held to fall within the range of reasonable responses.

On direct disability discrimination, the tribunal found that a hypothetical comparator who was not performing the basic requirements of the role would have been treated in the same way, and that disability did not influence the dismissal. On discrimination arising from disability, it accepted that the claimant's absences arose from disability, but found they did not influence the dismissal decision, and it did not accept that he had been pressured to return to work prematurely. On reasonable adjustments, it found that the alleged PCP of pressurising employees to return prematurely was not established; the performance requirement PCP was established but did not place the claimant at a substantial disadvantage, and the proposed adjustments would not have alleviated any disadvantage or had been offered.