Disability in the context of a business restructure

Cairns v The Royal Mail Group Limited [2024] EAT 129

Mr Cairns had been employed in a delivery role at Royal Mail’s Hendon delivery office in London. As a result of an injury, he was no longer able to perform outdoor deliveries and had been restricted to working indoors. Royal Mail accepted that Mr Cairns was disabled and assigned him indoor duties on a temporary basis. He was later found to be eligible for ill-health retirement and subsequently dismissed.

At the time of dismissal, it was anticipated that the Hendon delivery office would merge with another delivery office where a permanent indoor role might be found for Mr Cairns. However, it was not known at that point exactly when the future merger would take place. Mr Cairns contended that it would have been a reasonable adjustment to retain him pending the merger. He said that by the time his appeal against dismissal had been determined, the merger would be imminent.

When dismissing the claims brought under ss. 15 and 20 Equality Act 2010, the employment tribunal held that Royal Mail could not reasonably be expected to employ Mr Cairns in a supernumerary role indefinitely. However, the tribunal had failed properly to consider the reasonableness of the requested adjustment as at the date of Mr Cairns’ appeal. The case was, accordingly, remitted for a fresh decision to be made as to whether Royal Mail had failed, when dismissing Mr Cairns’ appeal, to make a reasonable adjustment (i.e. to delay the dismissal pending the imminent merger) and / or whether the decision to dismiss the appeal against dismissal was nonetheless ‘justified’.

When the technicalities of ss. 15 and 20 are stripped back, this case provides a helpful reminder to employers of the essential duty to consider the possibility of alternative employment at all times prior to the conclusion of the employment relationship (in this case, alternative employment that was likely to arise imminently following the planned restructuring of the business).