Claimant v King's College London
Outcome
Individual claims
Tribunal found the claim had no reasonable prospects of success because the claimant did not allege the conduct was done because of his disability, nor was there any objective link between the conduct and disability. The claimant's case was simply that the conduct made his health worse, which is insufficient to establish harassment 'related to' disability. The conduct was non-discriminatory bullying that happened to exacerbate a disability.
Facts
The claimant brought a harassment related to disability claim against his employer, King's College London. The alleged harassment consisted of five incidents in December 2023 and January 2024 involving emails and a meeting with Dr Sanderson about various workplace matters including a freezer, compassionate leave policy after the claimant's father died, and a lift issue. The claimant's father had recently died during this period.
Decision
The tribunal struck out the claim as having no reasonable prospects of success. The claimant's case was that the conduct was related to disability because it made his health worse, but he confirmed the conduct was not done because of his disability and there was no objective link to disability. The tribunal held that non-discriminatory bullying that happens to exacerbate a disability cannot amount to harassment related to disability under the Equality Act.
Practical note
For harassment to be 'related to' a protected characteristic, there must be either a mental link (the harasser was motivated by the characteristic) or an objective link (the conduct was inherently related to the characteristic) - the mere fact that conduct exacerbates a disability is insufficient.
Legal authorities cited
Statutes
Case details
- Case number
- 2306248/2024
- Decision date
- 2 April 2025
- Hearing type
- strike out
- Hearing days
- 1
- Classification
- procedural
Respondent
- Sector
- education
- Represented
- Yes
- Rep type
- barrister
Claimant representation
- Represented
- No