Perry's Motor Sales Ltd v Evans

An employer does not satisfy the reasonable-adjustments duty merely by intending that adjustments be made at management level. The adjustments must be implemented effectively in the workplace. A tribunal may find a breach where a disabled employee continues to receive unsuitable work, even if the employer did not intend that result.

An ongoing duty to make adjustments does not itself establish an ongoing breach for limitation purposes. Where findings leave that issue unresolved, the tribunal must decide whether the claim was in time and, if necessary, whether to extend time on a just and equitable basis.

An earlier discriminatory act may form part of a last-straw constructive-dismissal case or provide context for the final breach. Receipt of statutory sick pay while awaiting a grievance outcome does not necessarily affirm the contract.

The claimant, a motor technician with hand-arm vibration syndrome, could not safely use power or air tools and had difficulty with blind working. The employer accepted that he was disabled and knew of the disability. Although senior management intended adjustments to be made, the Employment Tribunal found that the workshop controller imperfectly implemented them by allocating unsuitable work.

The Tribunal upheld the reasonable-adjustments claim in part and found constructive unfair and wrongful dismissal. It dismissed direct-discrimination and discrimination-arising-from-disability claims as out of time.

The employer appealed, challenging the reasonable-adjustments and constructive-dismissal findings and contending that the reasonable-adjustments claim required a limitation determination.

1. Appeal allowed in part. The challenge to the finding that the employer failed to make reasonable adjustments was dismissed. The Employment Tribunal had not treated the workshop controller’s derogatory comments as the sole basis of liability. It permissibly found that adjustments intended by senior management were imperfectly implemented on the workshop floor, including through allocation of work requiring power or air tools or blind working.
2. The duty under Equality Act 2010 section 20 required reasonable steps to avoid the substantial disadvantage caused by the employer’s practice. On the Tribunal’s findings, the employer’s instruction not to allocate unsuitable work was not consistently carried out. The claimant’s self-help in obtaining assistance did not establish that the employer had made the adjustment it relied upon.
3. The limitation ground succeeded. The Tribunal’s finding that the adjustments question remained alive did not necessarily mean that there was a continuing breach after 6 September 2012. Its further findings that the matter was put on hold during sickness absence and that the employer then had a practicable willingness to deal with adjustments raised a real limitation issue. The matter was remitted to the same Tribunal to determine whether the claim was in time and, if not, whether it was just and equitable to extend time.
4. The constructive-dismissal challenge failed. The reasonable-adjustments breach could form one part of a series of acts constituting a repudiatory breach, or form the relevant context for the final act. The Tribunal was entitled to treat the delayed grievance appeal as the last straw, having regard to the preceding treatment. The claimant’s sickness absence and receipt of statutory sick pay did not compel a finding that he had affirmed the contract while he awaited the grievance appeal outcome.
5. The employer’s application for a proportion of its appeal fees was refused. Its principal grounds had failed and the effect of the successful limitation ground remained unresolved.

• Employment Appeal Tribunal: appeal allowed only on the limitation issue. That issue was remitted to the same Employment Tribunal.
• Sheffield Employment Tribunal: upheld the reasonable-adjustments claim in part and claims for constructive unfair and wrongful dismissal; dismissed the direct-discrimination and discrimination-arising-from-disability claims as out of time.