Employment law help

[Adorah]

Hello ...

I am in the process of going through an Employment Tribunal at the moment, due to geographical factors I am unable to access legal advice
... I live in Scotland and the ET is in England!

The ET is for disability discrimination dyslexia & depression. The depression brought about by lack of adjustments made for dyslexia.
I am also claiming unfair dismissal. It is a complex case that goes back to 2008.

I'm not doing too bad with the proceedings as the ET are very helpful,
but there are a few things they can not help with! if anybody out there would be willing to share their knowledge I would be extremely grateful

Many thanks in advance

[teaboy2]

Re: Employment law help

Am listening.

Any particular reason why the tribunal is in England and not in Scotland?

[Adorah]

Re: Employment law help

good morning Teaboy2,
I lived and worked in England, because of what went on at work I lost my house (repossessed) and was left homeless. I have two Huskies that I was not going to give up so the only house that came available was a 1 bed bofey in Scotland and no bedroom tax !

[Adorah]

Re: Employment law help

I'm trying to fill out a schedule of losses, and i'm not sure if to claim loss of earnings under unfair dismissal or I might be better claiming that loss under discrimination losses ??

[teaboy2]

Re: Employment law help

Can you give me a brief back ground as to the the discrimination and unfair dismissal.

That way i can better advise you.

[Adorah]

Re: Employment law help

I started work in 2006 for a local council in childcare my role involved a lot of paper work, in 2007 I started asking for a dyslexia assessment, did not get one. managers way of helping me was to move me to a unit where the there was a lot more paper work! and still did not get assessment although I was still asking ... 2011 I got in touch with access to work. After 3 assessment's I had a report that stated what I needed, a laptop being the most important thing. Managers refused to get me laptop on cost ! lots of other things went on like making me take minutes at lengthy staff meetings and suchlike ... eventually went on the sick with anxiety and depression, returned on phased return and was made to work 41 hours in my second week back ... oh and so much more !!

[Adorah]

Re: Employment law help

I had a case management meeting in Nov 2014, but had not stated exactly what laws I was claiming. The judge rearranged a new meeting for Feb 6th and I need to do a schedule of losses and schedule of events which i'm ploughing through ... struggling with schedule of losses as I don't know if I should claim loss of earnings under compensation claim or unfair dismissal /

[Adorah]

Re: Employment law help

The loss of earnings i'm claiming for go back to Dec 2011 when I went on long term sick with depression. I was on the sick for so long because work would not make the reasonable adjustments that were needed before I would return to work! I was finished in May 2014 on medical incapacity grounds, after 3 grievances. so I feel I have got good grounds for discrimination, just not sure if the unfair dismissal can be brought about because work caused me to go off sick in the first place ??

[teaboy2]

Re: Employment law help

So you were dismissed on capability grounds? was this a result of your taking time off work do to stress caused?

Your claim seems to be mainly based on breach of equality act 2010 in regards to disability discrimination, the relevant part being reasonable adjustments. They failed to make reasonable adjustments (there are coloured overlays for laptops etc that fit on normal laptop screens costing £15 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/coloured-mon.../dp/B0073W2SJ4). Yes you requested a laptop based on advice of Access to Work, but the council should have searched for cost effective alternatives and are probably more than aware of there existence!

Basically your dismissal was a direct result of their breach of the equality act 2010, therefore if they had made reasonable adjustments you would likely not been dismissed. Therefor your claim for loss of earnings should be made on that basis but under unfair dismissal claim and separate from your claim for compensation for discrimination.

You can find legislation for the equality act 2010 here, pay particular attention to section 149 as that puts extra onus on public sector bodies to not discriminate!! Read the whole legislation and use the parts relevant to you fully along with section 149 - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents

Also i suspect you were victimised for asserting your right to reasonable adjustments hence more work reading, the 41 hour week when on phased return, and forced to take minutes at meetings, they knew full well you were dyslexic (I am too by the way) and instead of helping you, they gave you no support, no help and instead more duties knowing full well you were suffering and even struggling. That may also amount to a breach of their contractual duty of care to you which is an implied term in all employment contracts!

[Adorah]

Re: Employment law help

Thank you so much for the advice Teaboy2 ... I really have a gut feeling that things are going to work out ok for me,. The judge has been really helpful, I just don't want to miss anything out that I can not add at a later date. The judge has directed me to add anything else to my claim, I added victimization at the last hearing because work also withheld my wage slips from 2011 to 1014 that in it's self is a law ERA sec 8 I think! should I add sec 149 to claim or let the judge determine that ?
... And yes depression was/is a result of not making adjustments for the dyslexia

[Adorah]

Re: Employment law help

If I claim the loss of earnings under unfair dismissal does that mean I would claim the basic award and receive week and a half for every year of work ? would I be able to claim the full wages I lost? if I claimed under unfair dismissal, I would then not be able to claim lost earnings as part of the discrimination losses ??
My mind works overtime by the way.

[Adorah]

Re: Employment law help

One more thing ... when i'm filling out schedule of events, because this goes back to 2007 should I be putting the laws that were relevant at that time or does EqA 2010 cover/replace events that happened back then !! they are all counted as continuous events and an ongoing situation, sec 149 came in in April 2011!

[teaboy2]

Re: Employment law help

Thank you so much for the advice Teaboy2 ... I really have a gut feeling that things are going to work out ok for me,. The judge has been really helpful, I just don't want to miss anything out that I can not add at a later date. The judge has directed me to add anything else to my claim, I added victimization at the last hearing because work also withheld my wage slips from 2011 to 1014 that in it's self is a law ERA sec 8 I think! should I add sec 149 to claim or let the judge determine that ?
... And yes depression was/is a result of not making adjustments for the dyslexia

Yes add section 149 of the Equality act 2010 to your claim as that is a indirect breach as a direct breach for they failure to make reasonable adjustments as per section 20 of the equality act 2010. Give your reasoning's as to why they are in breach. Section 20 is obviously because they refused a laptop due on costs, yet failed to find alternatives such as the coloured screen overlay specifically designed to aid those who are dyslexic that cost just £15 - Print copy of the item on the amazon website out and in include it as supporting evidence and therefore as per section 21 of the equality act 2010, failed to make reasonable adjustments. In regards to breach of section 149 of the equality act 2010, your reasoning is they breached it as a indirect result of breaching section 20 and likewise section 21. As the legislation under section 149 puts a specific duty on public bodies/authorities/sector to not discriminate against a person and to protect them from such incidences, they failed to do this when they breached section 20 and fell foul of section 21 as a result!

Remember ERA 1996 and Equality act 2010 are seperate acts. SO best to refer to sections within each acts with the name of the act as well, and the year.

No the equality act does not apply retrospectively - Good job you asked that. Though relevant parts will apply from the dates the act came into force and section 149 applies because of their actions after the equality act came in to force. So for incidents that happened prior to the equality act, refer to section 6 disability discrimination act for reasonable adjustments and other sections relevant on other matters of discrimination - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/50/contents

[Adorah]

Re: Employment law help

The laptop was important because the Dragon software which was also recommended would be placed on lap and the portable nature of it and could be taken to a quiet area, as noise and distractions were a major detriment. They placed the software on a shared noisy office PC. They did eventually say I could have a laptop but " I would have to use it in the same noisy environment" managers own words (vindictive) I have all this in a transcript between Access to work and managers.

[teaboy2]

Re: Employment law help

The laptop was important because the Dragon software which was also recommended would be placed on lap and the portable nature of it and could be taken to a quiet area, as noise and distractions were a major detriment. They placed the software on a shared noisy office PC. They did eventually say I could have a laptop but " I would have to use it in the same noisy environment" managers own words (vindictive) I have all this in a transcript between Access to work and managers.

So add that they later said you could have the laptop but would have to use in same noisy environment - I.e. no suggestion of headset with microphone that blocks out background noise etc. They can be bought for about £15 too. Therefore wholly negated the point of and ability to use the dragon software