A member of staff suffered from a medical condition – covered by disability under the Equality Act 2010 – that resulted in her having a lot of time off work.
After being made redundant, she applied for a job at another company and was offered the role, but her prospective new employer was not satisfied with her written reference and?so phoned her previous company. The latter would not provide details of the ex-employee’s sickness absence record, but did say it was extensive and that it would be difficult to judge whether she was suitable for the new role.
Following this telephone conversation,?the job offer was withdrawn – although the prospective employer claimed there were other reasons. The applicant brought two claims, one against her former employer and one against?her prospective employer, citing the negative reference and the withdrawal of the offer, which both amounted to unfavourable treatment due to her disability by both defendants respectively. Both claims succeeded.
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