Disabled worker fails in discrimination plea

A father-of-four did not face discrimination by bosses at a Bradford job centre because of his disability, an employment tribunal has ruled today.

David Lambert, who uses a wheelchair and is often in severe pain following an industrial accident in 1996, claimed his managers should have taken his disability into account before verbally warning him for missing too many days off work at JobCentre Plus in Bradford.

Mr Lambert, 34, of Walden Drive, Heaton, Bradford, also should have been allowed to work from home occasionally because of sickness caused by a daily dose of painkillers, he told the Leeds Tribunal today.

He said: “All I can do is my best to get into work on a daily basis and what I would expect, especially from a Government department like JobCentre Plus, is that it takes my medical condition into account.”

But giving evidence the centre’s customer operations manager, Tim Dibb, said managers were justified in disciplining Mr Lambert in March, 2008, after he took more than 28 days sick leave in a year.

Because of Mr Lambert’s unpredictable condition, he would often call up the same morning saying he could not come to work, leaving about ten colleagues to deal with 50 extra compulsory interview appointments to find jobs for benefits claimants, he said.

And, if there were already too few staff in the office, job-seekers would have their interviews cancelled and simply turn up to sign on. Mr Lambert had been allowed to start work late when he was feeling ill, had been given a higher desk for his wheelchair and had been found a back office job when he found it difficult to interview job-seekers, Mr Dibb said.

And he told the tribunal there would be a “serious security risk” should Mr Lambert be allowed to take home his work – sensitive documents containing job-seekers’ personal details.

Tribunal judge David Burton sympathised with Mr Lambert but ruled JobCentre Plus managers had taken reasonable steps to account for his disability.

He said: “While this tribunal has considerable admiration for the claimant (Mr Lambert) for the efforts he makes to keep in work, we do not think that his claim is well-grounded and it is as a consequence of that that it is dismissed.”

Source: Bradford Telegraph Argus