Pre-employment: Equality Act

Summary Job descriptions or person specifications should avoid unnecessary requirements, particularly those which may prejudice those with a...

Good practice guide: dismissal of an employee after long-term sickness absence

Good practice guides are meant as general guidance for practitioners to help them comply with the law and good practice, rather than explain...

Disability absence as ‘context’ rather than cause of redundancy dismissal

The EAT upheld a decision that on the facts there was no discrimination arising from disability (s.15 EqA) where a claimant who had been abs...

Court of Appeal on long-term absence due to disability

In a borderline decision, the Court of Appeal upheld an employment tribunal decision that a school was not justified under the Equality Act ...

What is a mental impairment?

Diana Kloss considers the case of Herry v Dudley Metropolitan Council, in which an employee who had been absent for more than two years with...

Whether to raise complaints against ill worker

The worker’s health may be relevant not only to how disciplinary proceedings are handled but also whether complaints should be brought at al...

Long-term work-related stress and disability

The EAT held that a long-term refusal to return to work due to the stress of unresolved issues there was not necessarily a disability within...

S.15 EqA: justification of steps under absence management procedure

The EAT held it will normally be a question of whether individual steps under the procedure are justified, rather than the procedure as a wh...

Managing sickness and absence

Unfair dismissal can apply whether or not there is a disability, if the employee has two years’ service. However if there is a disabil...

Pay and the reasonable adjustment duty

The EAT has said it may in individual circumstances be reasonable to allow a disabled employee to retain previous pay for a less skilled job...