reasonable adjustments

This post was written by David Ashmore and Amy Treppass.

In Metroline Travel v Stoute, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) decided that employees with type 2 diabetes controlled by diet (rather than medication) are not automatically protected by disability discrimination legislation.

The Facts

Mr Stoute was employed by Metroline and worked for them as

In Donelien v Liberata, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has held that an employer did not have constructive knowledge of an employee’s disability, even though further steps could have been taken to investigate her condition.

Background

Under the Equality Act 2010, employers are obliged to make reasonable adjustments to help disabled employees overcome disadvantages

In our previous blog, “Are obese workers protected from discrimination” , we confirmed the advocate general’s opinion in the case of Kaltoft v Municipality of Billund (case C-354/13) that while obese workers were not automatically covered by EU disability discrimination law, the worker may be considered to be disabled where he or she is “severely

Summary

An opinion on whether an obese worker is protected under discrimination law has been issued by Advocate General Jääskinen. It was found that while obese workers are not automatically covered, where a worker is "severely, extremely or morbidly obese", the worker may be considered to be disabled and therefore protected under discrimination law.

We

In Cordell v the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UKEAT/0016/11), the UK Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) considered whether an employer’s refusal to provide lip-speaking support to a deaf employee was unreasonable based on cost alone. The EAT provided guidance on how Tribunals might put costs considerations into context when considering reasonable adjustments for disabled employees but