Employees can be held personally responsible for failing to make reasonable adjustments for disabled workers, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled.
The ruling came after a disabled tutor challenged a decision to strike out claims against four individuals involved in her employment.
Ms C. Merriman had been working through an agency as a tutor for a person with special needs when she developed disabilities that made it difficult for her to attend the workplace. She asked for adjustments, including the possibility of teaching online rather than face to face.
An Employment Tribunal allowed her claim against the agency, 1st Staff Limited, to continue. But it struck out similar claims against four people working for the company, saying there was no reasonable prospect of those claims succeeding.
Ms Merriman appealed.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has now overturned that part of the earlier decision, ruling that claims over a failure to make reasonable adjustments can potentially be brought against individual employees as well as an employer.
Judge Barklem said the original tribunal had been wrong to conclude that such claims could only be made against an employer.
Although the legal duty to make reasonable adjustments rests with an employer or principal, a company can only act through its employees and agents, the judge said. Under sections 109 and 110 of the Equality Act 2010, an employee can potentially be personally liable where their actions amount to discrimination for which the employer is also liable.
The judgment referred to an earlier case, Baldwin v Cleves School, which established that employees can face personal liability for discriminatory acts covered by the Equality Act. It also cited guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission giving examples of employees who could potentially be personally liable for failing to make reasonable adjustments.
The latest ruling does not mean the four individuals have been found to have discriminated against Ms Merriman.
Instead, the tribunal has ordered that they be brought back into the claim so their involvement can be examined.
Further hearings are expected, with the Employment Tribunal to clarify the allegations against each person and determine what role, if any, they played in the alleged failure to make adjustments.
The case highlights that responsibility for disability discrimination may extend beyond a company itself where employees or agents are directly involved in conduct that breaches the Equality Act.
Photo: Markus Winkler
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