An NHS Administrator with a “reduced ability to concentrate in noisy environments” following a brain haemorrhage has been awarded £27,208.74 by an employment tribunal after the NHS Trust she worked for failed to make reasonable adjustments.
The Claimant, Rose Davies, had eight occupational health appointments and subsequent reports while working for Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust and its predecessor, which detailed her sensitivities to light and noise.
Before eventually resigning after more than five years’ service, she sent an email stating: “Most of the correspondence I have received from my employer has a negative tone where I have felt attacked and ignored. The amount of time and effort for a small request is astonishing and exhausting. I have previously felt and currently feel there is no genuine case or concern to help me return to work.”
Employment Judge Harris, presiding over the remote hearing, found that the Respondent had failed to make reasonable adjustments to Davies’ working environment. He said:
“The Tribunal was satisfied that the Respondent had not taken such steps as it was reasonable to take to avoid the substantial disadvantage to which the Claimant was put by her disability.”
The Respondent’s case was that it had taken reasonable steps throughout the period of time that the Claimant had complained about the difficulties she was encountering in the office environment. The Tribunal disagreed. It held that a workplace assessment carried out by the Respondent was in fact a “pointless exercise.”
This case is a salient reminder of just how important it is to make reasonable adjustments wherever possible and, in most cases, it isn’t that difficult to achieve.