Disability discrimination can be found to exist when an employer treats an employee unfavourably because of something arising as a consequence of the employee’s disability.

In a case where an employer operated a bonus scheme for employees who hadn’t received a formal warning for high levels of sickness during the relevant financial year, the employer was found to be discriminating against disabled employees.

In this case, 5 disabled employees had been absent due to sickness on occasions which were a direct result of their disabilities.  Whilst the employer had made reasonable adjustments to their trigger points, which extended the amount of sickness before a warning, each employee eventually received a warning and were therefore not eligible for a bonus.

Employee claims for disability discrimination

The employees then made a claim for disability discrimination at the Employment Tribunal.  It was found that the fact that receiving a warning led to an automatic disqualification from the bonus scheme was discrimination arising from disability. 

Disability discrimination legal advice

For advice about whether you may have a claim for disability discrimination call to speak to one of our specialist employment law solicitors. Bray & Bray have three main offices across Leicestershire, feel free to phone or pop in to talk to our solicitors.