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Non-payment of bonus to disabled employee was discrimination
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld an employment tribunal's decision that an employer discriminated against disabled employees by operating a bonus scheme, which did not pay out to employees who had received a warning for high levels of sickness absence. (Land Registry v Houghton and others UKEAT/0149/14.)
The employer had reasonable adjustments in place to delay the issuing of a warning to an employee who was absent due to a disability. However, the fact that receiving a warning led to an automatic disqualification from the bonus scheme was discrimination arising from disability. It was irrelevant that the HR officer who made the decision not to pay the bonus had no knowledge of the employees' disabilities; what was important was that the disability-related absences had led to the non-payment.