The Court of Appeal has ruled that employers cannot ‘simply rubber stamp' an opinion provided by occupational health advisers regarding an employee's disability.
In Nigel John Gallop v Newport City Council the court found that employers must make their own judgment as to whether an employee is disabled rather than simply accepting the opinion of the health advisor.
Equality and Human Rights Commission legal director Wendy Hewitt said: "We are pleased that the Court of Appeal has closed this potentially serious legal loophole. The duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees is only triggered if the employer knows, or should know, that the employee is disabled.
"The Court gave useful guidance to employers in emphasising the need to ask a medical adviser specific practical questions to provide them with real assistance in deciding this question for themselves."
The case involved an employee, Gallop, who had depression brought on by work-related stress and was dismissed by the Council in 2008, further winning £60,000 compensation for unfair dismissal.
However, his claim for disability discrimination was thrown out by the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal which agreed that the employer was unaware he was disabled because the occupational health advisers had informed them he did not meet the legal definition of disability.
Today this finding was rejected by the Court of Appeal which ruled that the employer should scrutinise the nature of the particular impairment and decide for themselves whether the definition of disability is satisfied.
The case will now be handled by the Employment Tribunal to decide whether the Council knew or should have known that Gallop met the legal definition of disability and whether he was subject to disability discrimination at the hands of his employer.
