A round up of the latest HR and Employment Law updates and related stories.

CONTINUOUS DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION AND TIME LIMITS FOR CLAIMS

There are clear limitation periods for bringing employment law claims with most needing to be lodged before the Employment Tribunal within 3 months minus 1 day from the date of the first act relating to the complaint. This means that most dates will be easy to calculate so that, for example, a claim relating to an unfair dismissal must be made 3 months minus 1 day from the date of actual dismissal.

However, in equality discrimination legislation, the period of time takes into account the fact that discrimination can occur over a continuing period of time. Therefore S123(3) of the Equality Act 2010 does provide that when considering any time limits “conduct extending over a period is to be treated as done at the end of the period,” However, issues can occur when the alleged discrimination is not continuous or “broken.” The recent case of Fenn T/A Powercutz v Schreeve UKEAT/0160/15/DM has helped to clarify this issue.

Miss Schreeve was employed as a barber from April 2012 until her summary dismissal in September 2013 from a shop trading as Powercutz, owned by Ms Fenn. Miss Schreeve is dyslexic and had made her employer aware of that fact, but the original Tribunal to which she made her claim agreed that she had been subject to direct discrimination and victimisation. As a result Miss Schreeve was awarded compensation of £10,140.20 together with her costs.

Her employer, Ms Fenn, appealed against the Tribunal’s decision on the basis that Miss Schreeve had brought her claim to the Tribunal too late or “out of time,” Ms Fenn claimed that the Tribunal did not find any “individual act of harassment after August 2013 and so when lodging her original claim on the 19th December 2013, she was already too late.

In considering the case and dismissing the appeal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) made it plain that a Tribunal would (and did) consider an “unbroken course of unlawful conduct” and a “pattern of harassment” which in this case “led to the discriminatory dismissal.” The EAT referred to an older case (Hendricks v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2002] EWCA Civ 1686) based on previous disability discrimination legislation where the Court of appeal said “the question is whether that is “an act extending over a period” as distinct from a succession of unconnected or isolated specific acts, for which time would begin to run from the date when each specific act was committed.”

It therefore becomes increasingly important that very clear, accurate and concurrent records are maintained and held relating to any issues involving equality.

NEW DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION GUIDE

ACAS have recently released new guidance relating to disability discrimination in the workplace called “Disability discrimination: key points for the workplace” which is available on the ACAS website.

The guide is aimed at “employers, senior managers, line managers, HR personnel, employees, employee/trade union representatives and job applicants.”

The guide provides a helpful insight into

• understanding what disability is
• how disability discrimination can occur in the workplace
• “key employment areas” where discrimination can occur
• what both employers and employees need to take into account and
• raising and dealing with disability complaints

The guide features helpful practical examples and should prove a valuable source of input when you come to review your relevant practice policies.

Why not make 2016 the year your practice becomes “Disability Confident.” See here for more details.

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