£32k award for chronic migraines
An Employment Tribunal has found that Medway NHS Foundation Trust unlawfully discriminated against a trainee clinical coder because of disability and failed to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.
Mrs Y Barron began working for the Trust on 7 January 2013 and, in August 2021, started a three-year trainee accredited clinical coder programme. The role involved intensive training, audits and competency assessments against National Clinical Coding Standards.
Mrs Barron had long-standing disabilities, including chronic migraines, depression and anxiety, which had generally been well-managed. She did not fully disclose her conditions until August 2022, shortly after an appraisal raised performance concerns.
From July 2022, the Trust placed Mrs Barron on a performance improvement plan, beginning with an audit requiring rapid completion of targets that managers knew she was unlikely to meet.
When Mrs Barron disclosed her disabilities and requested adjustments, including more time, pausing the performance process and occupational health support, these requests were not accommodated.
The Tribunal accepted that her disabilities caused significant functional impairments affecting processing speed, concentration and learning pace, meaning she could not work at the same speed as her peers.
Unfavourable treatment & lack of reasonable adjustments
The Trust continued with an intensive performance management process after Mrs Barron disclosed her disability, including audits and objective targets that did not take her health-related disadvantage into account.
The Tribunal found this amounted to unfavourable treatment arising from disability, as the approach was neither a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim nor reasonably adapted to her circumstances.
The Tribunal also found a failure to make reasonable adjustments. Once the Trust knew (or ought reasonably to have known) of Mrs Barron’s disabilities, the performance plan and associated audits placed her at a substantial disadvantage compared with non-disabled colleagues.
Reasonable steps could have included pausing the performance process, allowing input into targets and timescales, exploring causes of errors and providing more supportive training methods.
Key points for HR
Mrs Barron was awarded £32,583 in compensation for discrimination arising from disability and failure to make reasonable adjustments, which serves as a reminder that performance management must always be responsive to health disclosures.
- Employers should consider pausing performance procedures when disability is disclosed
- Targets and audits may need tailoring to avoid disadvantageing disabled staff
- Formal adjustments include altering timelines, adjusting expectations and offering meaningful support
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