Outcome
Individual claims
The tribunal found that the respondent had conducted a reasonable investigation and the decision to dismiss fell within the band of reasonable responses of a reasonable employer. The claimant was guilty of gross misconduct (bringing a knife onto school premises, stabbing it into a whiteboard, and failing to report it) which justified dismissal despite her clean record and long service.
The tribunal concluded that the claimant had not shown that her conduct on 14 December 2022 (stabbing a knife into a whiteboard and leaving it there all day) arose in consequence of her epilepsy. There was insufficient medical evidence linking her disability or medication to the behaviour, and the tribunal drew adverse inferences from the claimant's failure to obtain expert medical evidence. The tribunal found the claimant had an existing propensity to react extremely to difficult situations, unrelated to her disability.
Facts
The claimant, a facilities manager at a secondary school academy, had epilepsy diagnosed in 2021 which worsened in 2022 with increased seizures, confusion, and headaches/vomiting as medication side effects. On 14 December 2022, after having had a seizure and vomited on the way to work, she found a large knife near the school, put it in her trolley, later accidentally stabbed her finger on it, then stabbed the knife twice into her office whiteboard out of frustration and left it there all day despite being told to remove it. She also self-harmed by breaking her finger with a hammer on 6 December 2022 due to severe headaches. The claimant worked throughout the rest of the day on 14 December and likely had another seizure that day. She was dismissed for gross misconduct in September 2023 after returning to work in May 2023.
Decision
The tribunal dismissed both the unfair dismissal and disability discrimination claims. It found that while the claimant was disabled by epilepsy, there was insufficient medical evidence linking her conduct (stabbing the knife into the whiteboard and leaving it there all day) to her disability or medication. The tribunal concluded the claimant had an existing propensity to react extremely to difficult situations unrelated to her disability, and drew adverse inferences from her failure to obtain expert medical evidence. The dismissal was found to be fair and within the band of reasonable responses given the serious safeguarding risks in a school setting.
Practical note
In section 15 disability discrimination claims, correlation between timing of unusual behaviour and disability/medication is insufficient without clear medical evidence demonstrating a causal link; tribunals will draw adverse inferences where claimants fail to obtain available expert evidence, and will look at the whole picture including behaviour at other times to assess whether conduct genuinely arose from disability.
Legal authorities cited
Statutes
Case details
- Case number
- 1800410/2024
- Decision date
- 13 March 2025
- Hearing type
- full merits
- Hearing days
- 4
- Classification
- contested
Respondent
- Name
- B
- Sector
- education
- Represented
- Yes
- Rep type
- barrister
Employment details
- Role
- Facilities Manager
- Service
- 9 years
Claimant representation
- Represented
- Yes
- Rep type
- barrister