7 New Square member’s success with disability discrimination claim cited in IDS Law Brief

by Melvyn Harris 17/07/2009

A disability discrimination case in the Employment Tribunal, Punch v Maldon Carers Centre, where Melvyn Harris represented the successful Claimant in late 2008 was cited in "Focus On Disability", a feature in the June 2009 issue of IDS Employment Law Brief on page 18. The case concerned the alleged discriminatory treatment meted out to the disabled Claimant, the alleged failure of the Respondent (a charity whose main purpose was to assist carers of disabled persons) to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate her disability, and unfair dismissal which she claimed was connected to her disability. In its judgment the Tribunal commented that it was unimpressed with the evidence of the Respondent's witnesses following Melvyn's cross-examination. It found that the stated ground for dismissal of the Claimant was not redundancy as claimed but that was simply a pretext to get rid of her and went on to find that the dismissal was for a discriminatory reason. It also found in favour of the Claimant on many of her complaints of less favourable treatment and of failing to make adjustments. A remedies hearing was listed but proved to be unnecessary as the Respondent agreed to pay the Claimant a sum approaching £100,000.