Are tribunals given appropriate and sufficient evidence for disability claims?

Abstract

Background: Occupational physicians are sometimes surprised at the decisions made by employment tribunals. Aim: To assess employment tribunal judgements on disability discrimination in order to determine whether the evidence placed before the tribunal was appropriate and sufficient. Method: Qualitative review of recorded tribunal judgements for an 18-month period between 1 January 2005 and 31 June 2006. Results: Of a total of 2497 cases, 2271 (91%) were withdrawn or settled before going to tribunal. Of the remaining 226 cases, 38 were default judgements. In total, 188 cases were actually heard and only 65 judgements were recorded. Of these, 50 (2% of all cases) were full hearings. In 18 full hearings, there was input from an occupational physician, and the tribunal view was that there was discrimination in six cases, four where the advice had been ignored. Only four cases had input from a consultant occupational physician; in three cases, the finding was that discrimination had not taken place and in the fourth, the advice from the consultant was ignored by the management. © The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved.