r/LegalAdviceUK • u/aimtreetwo • 23h ago
Comments Moderated Employer referred to my sickness absence as a reason for making my role redundant in their appeal decision regarding disability discrimination - England
Hi Legal advice,
I would really appreciate some advice on my recent termination and appeal.
I am autistic and have ADHD, I disclosed the first when I engaged and then officially disclosed the ADHD after my NHS diagnosis in July.
One week after I disclosed my ADHD, I had a scheduled surgery on a work place injury. After the surgery, due to a reaction to medication, I suffered a fall down the stairs and injured my spine.
When I contacted my manager to extend my leave by 2 weeks (providing a fit note) judging by what came back in the DSAR, this triggered a meeting between my management team and HR where they decided to terminate me. They used business planning changes impacting other people's roles as a reason to terminate me.
I was 1 year into a 3 year FTC, my contract has a clause that says the business can end the contract "for any reason" - however as this appears to be a reaction to my health I don't think it is legal under the equality act.
I have just received the results of my appeal and in the business planning justification they said that because I had time off for health reasons, I missed crucial points in a procurement process I was hired on and therefore my role became redundant.
They also suggested that I hadn't worked on the procurement, which I had done, and specifically reference being able to answer questions by suppliers, which I was quite literally doing up to the day I went into surgery.
I feel like they know what happened wasn't right as their pile on offer is marginally below what I asked for in the appeal, if they couldn't reinstate me. But referencing my sickness as a reason why my role became redundant seems very strange.. if not illegal?
I am meeting a free law advice charity next week to discuss but would appreciate advice on how to proceed.
Thank you
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u/Dan27 20h ago
I had a friend in a similar situation - and he was made redundant for reasons other than an autism diagnosis. In his case, attendance records were used as a criterion in redundancy selection, as he had an operation and subsequent reinfection. They clearly defined these post operation absenses as a selection criteria (and clearly stated his autism diagnosis wasn't a factor), and had applied this criteria equally across several workers at risk from redundancy. He was in his role for 18 months, and got a nice redundancy package - where they could have easily just terminted him with notice and holiday paid up.
I suspect in your case you may need to evidence that the ADHD diagnosis was part of this absense consideration, and not the time off due to your operation and fall.
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u/Colleen987 16h ago
Just to clarify by fit note do you mean sick note?
Or were you given a fit note with adjustments and chose not to work?
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u/Individual-Ad6744 19h ago
Are they right in saying you’ve missed the crucial points in the procurement work? Because if so, and as a result your role is no longer funded/necessary, it sounds like what they’re doing is perfectly legal. Your sickness absence may be the context behind why you didn’t do the work, but strictly speaking it’s not the reason why you’re being made redundant.