Disability discrimination: Dismissal for incapacity owing to unexplained illness was unlawful discrimination
This report relates to 1 case(s)
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HJ Heinz Co Ltd v Kenrick [2000] IRLR 144 EAT (2 other reports)
In HJ Heinz & Co Ltd v Kenrick 3.12.99 EAT 1082/98, the EAT upholds an employment tribunal's decision that an employer unlawfully discriminated against an employee who had been off work for 10 months with undiagnosed chronic fatigue syndrome, and was still incapable of doing his job, by dismissing him. It was sufficient if, objectively regarded, the relationship between the employee's disability and the dismissal existed, whether or not it featured in the employer's mind, although in this case the employer did know that the employee's symptoms fell within the statutory definition of "disability" when it decided to dismiss him. Further, although the threshold for justification is very low, the dismissal was not justified.