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Employer still won't accept I am disabled in a Tribunal case

DragonCat16

I have been through a nightmare at my previous employer, who bullied and discriminated against me. What they did to me has left me unable to work or even function. I have taken them to the Employment Tribunal. You can read details if you search my previous posts.

At this point, they are still claiming that I am not disabled and that I wasn't disabled at the time of my employment. One of the things they claim is that they don't believe that I have ASD. This is despite the fact that I have provided them with a letter from the psychiatrist who evaluated me and diagnosed me with ASD. They are demanding that I provide expert evidence, even though I have already provided the evidence in the form of that letter. What could they possibly be asking for if not what I have already provided?

Even though I provided an impact statement of several pages, they are saying that I didn't provide proof of each paragraph in the document. The way the judge described the impact statement when it was requested of me was that it needed to describe how my disability affects my day-to-day activities. He didn't say I need to provide proof for everything. If I had, it would have been a ridiculous number of pages, and they were already complaining about  the number of pages I provided to them. I provided my former employer with the documents they requested, and now they claim that they have factual inaccuracies, but of course they don't list even one of those supposed inaccuracies.

Some people on this forum have said that their impact statement was only one page and it was accepted by the employer right away. I provided considerably more than that and they are still not accepting my disability. I know that they are doing this because the only way they can get out of being found responsible for what they did to me is to convince the tribunal I'm not disabled.

This is really causing me a lot of distress and it's as if they didn't even read the documents I provided. I don't understand why they are further risking their reputation by continuing to treat me this way.

Has anyone had this much trouble at the trbunal getting their former employer to accept their disability? Did the Tribunal eventually decide that you did have a disability? What evidence did you need to provide?

Thanks very much in advance.

Parents

  • There is a distinction in employment between bullying and harassment.

    If you are 'disabled ' and an employer treats you unfavourably because of that disablement it is harassment for which you may seek retribution ultimately at a tribunal.  If you are not disabled, and the employer treats you unfavourably it may be bullying but the most you can do is seek retribution through the firm's grievance procedure although it may be possible to go to a tribunal because the fi r m failed to follow its own policy.

    It is now becoming clear why the company  is acting in this way. They are harassing you and their defence appears to be it is not harassment because you do not have a protected characteristic, ie you are not disabled.  They have a weak argument, and a judge with the evidence having weighed it up will see that. Not only that but any compensation you are awarded could be increased by up to 25% because the company is not obeying Acas codes of practice or the law, and there is no upper limit on what can be awarded in discrimination caes.  On top of that, the tribunal can award punitive damages for distress  caused. 

    So it does seem as if  you have a better case against them than they have a defence for, and although I cannot say what will happen, there should be cause for  a bit of optimism.

Reply

  • There is a distinction in employment between bullying and harassment.

    If you are 'disabled ' and an employer treats you unfavourably because of that disablement it is harassment for which you may seek retribution ultimately at a tribunal.  If you are not disabled, and the employer treats you unfavourably it may be bullying but the most you can do is seek retribution through the firm's grievance procedure although it may be possible to go to a tribunal because the fi r m failed to follow its own policy.

    It is now becoming clear why the company  is acting in this way. They are harassing you and their defence appears to be it is not harassment because you do not have a protected characteristic, ie you are not disabled.  They have a weak argument, and a judge with the evidence having weighed it up will see that. Not only that but any compensation you are awarded could be increased by up to 25% because the company is not obeying Acas codes of practice or the law, and there is no upper limit on what can be awarded in discrimination caes.  On top of that, the tribunal can award punitive damages for distress  caused. 

    So it does seem as if  you have a better case against them than they have a defence for, and although I cannot say what will happen, there should be cause for  a bit of optimism.

Children
  • in reply to Trainspotter
    Trainspotter said:
    So it does seem as if  you have a better case against them than they have a defence for, and although I cannot say what will happen, there should be cause for  a bit of optimism.

    Thanks. I truly hope you are correct about this. I have drawn the same conclusion but it's nice to know someone else thinks the way I do. I really hate that they are playing stupid games instead of taking the case seriously. It's just more of the same thing that I went through while I was working for them.