Disabled worker was 'victimised'

A disabled website consultant has won a six-year sex and disability discrimination battle against Warwick University despite having her "credibility" criticised by the employment tribunal.

After a second full hearing of the case, the Birmingham Employment Tribunal found that Warwick had discriminated against Law School consultant Yael Kahn, breaking both sex and disability discrimination laws.

The tribunal concluded that she had been "victimised" when the university suspended her purely because she had taken out a grievance against her employer.

It also said that Warwick had failed to make proper adjustments to her working environment when she returned to work after having been in a car accident in 1998 that left her disabled.

Ms Kahn joined Warwick's Law School in 1995 to work on an electronic law journals project.

She took out a grievance against her line manager, Abdul Paliwala, in summer 1999, claiming he had failed to offer her sufficient support and had been hostile towards her since her accident.

But the grievance was rejected by the head of the Law School, Mike McConville, in January 2000. Her appeal against his finding was also rejected, and the appeal panel concluded that there had been an "irretrievable breakdown in the working relationship between Ms Kahn and Professor Paliwala".

As a result of this breakdown, Professor McConville suspended Ms Kahn, who was escorted from the premises and told to hand over her office key.

But during her suspension, in late February 2000, she gained access to her office, deleted a number of computer files and removed her desktop computer.

When she attended the university by arrangement on March 7 to collect her personal possessions, the university notified the police, who arrested her and took her into custody. They released her later the same day, without charge. She resigned the next day with immediate effect.

An original employment tribunal in 2002 found in favour of the university but Ms Kahn appealed successfully against its judgment.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal ordered a rehearing when it established that the tribunal had disregarded the testimony of a key witness.

The rehearing concluded that after Ms Kahn's return to work following the car accident, Warwick failed to consider and implement reasonable adjustments in her workplace.

It also found that Ms Kahn's grievance led directly to her suspension. "The claimant has received less favourable treatment, to her detriment, than (a) hypothetical comparator," the tribunal said. "It follows that her complaint of victimisation against (the university) and (Professor McConville) succeeds."

A spokesman for Warwick said: "The university is pleased to note that the full judgment makes many positive statements about how the university dealt with with a difficult and complex situation.

"In particular, the university is pleased that two highly respected members of staff, Professors Paliwala and McConville, who faced a number of accusations, have been found largely to have acted in a fair and non-discriminatory manner throughout this case."

He highlighted criticisms the tribunal had made of Ms Kahn. In particular, it had raised questions about Ms Kahn's "credibility".

The tribunal said she had faked an email from a colleague "to support her claim" and added: "Many of the assertions made by Ms Kahn are based on a distorted perception of events."

phil.baty@thes.co.uk