Claimant v John Wiley and Sons Limited
Outcome
Individual claims
The tribunal found no causal connection established between the claimant's ADHD and the spelling/grammatical errors. The respondent lacked actual or constructive knowledge of the claimant's ADHD, which is required for a s.15 claim. The claimant explicitly denied having dyslexia when asked by his manager, and never disclosed his ADHD during employment.
The tribunal concluded the manager's comments about typos in the end-of-year review were not related to the claimant's disability, as no causal link was established between ADHD and the errors. The comments were constructive feedback in a performance review context. Even if the claimant found them unwanted, they did not meet the high threshold for harassment—they were not intended to, nor did they reasonably, violate dignity or create a hostile environment.
Facts
The claimant, a senior HR operations manager with ADHD (not disclosed during employment), resigned after 14 months. His manager, Ms Roycroft, gave him a positive end-of-year review but noted in response to a question about areas for improvement that when busy he made typos and grammatical errors that could seem 'messy work' to external stakeholders. The claimant later claimed this comment was disability discrimination. Ms Roycroft had suspected the claimant might have dyslexia and asked him about it; he denied it. He never disclosed his ADHD. The claimant raised a grievance after resignation, initially about other matters, later adding the performance review comment.
Decision
The tribunal dismissed both claims. It found the claimant had not proved a causal link between his ADHD and spelling/grammar errors—the medical evidence did not support this connection. The respondent therefore had no knowledge (actual or constructive) of his disability, which is fatal to a s.15 claim. The tribunal also found the manager's comments were constructive feedback, not unfavourable treatment or harassment, and did not meet the high threshold required for harassment even if unwanted.
Practical note
A claimant must prove a causal link between their disability and the 'something' that led to the treatment complained of; constructive feedback in a performance review identifying genuine weaknesses will not constitute harassment even if the employee is sensitive about the issue, especially where the disability was never disclosed and the employer had no knowledge of it.
Legal authorities cited
Statutes
Case details
- Case number
- 3201386/2023
- Decision date
- 12 January 2024
- Hearing type
- full merits
- Hearing days
- 2
- Classification
- contested
Respondent
- Sector
- education
- Represented
- Yes
- Rep type
- barrister
Employment details
- Role
- Senior HR Operations Manager
- Service
- 1 years
Claimant representation
- Represented
- No