In Stott v Ralli Ltd the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decided the process of an appeal against a dismissal was treated as being separate from the decision to dismiss.
This was so that, when considering whether an employer had knowledge of an employee’s disability at the time of dismissal (for the purpose of the claim), it was not necessary to consider the employer’s knowledge during the appeal process.
Stott v Ralli Ltd
Ms Stott worked as a paralegal from October 2017, but was dismissed after only a few months due to poor performance.
She raised a grievance after the decision to dismiss her was made, saying she had anxiety and depression which caused her poor performance.
The employer dismissed her grievance and, having given her the opportunity to appeal the dismissal, did not uphold that either.
She made a claim to the employment tribunal (ET) for disability discrimination.
Can an employer discriminate on the grounds of disability if they only found out about the disability after dismissal?
The ET held that Ms Stott was dismissed only because she was not performing, despite being given reasonable support and training.
While the ET sympathised with Ms Stott, agreeing that she was disabled and that this caused her performance issues, her claim failed for a number of reasons.
Mainly, because at no time prior to her dismissal did she disclose her disability to the employer and they could not reasonably have been expected to have known about it.
Ms Stott appealed to the EAT.
Click here to read the EAT's decision.