A Midlands firm has been told to pay a former employee a total of £35,000 following his successful tribunal claim.

Employment Judge Flood, sitting in the Birmingham tribunal, ordered RLK Solicitors Limited to pay claimant D Russell £15,000 for injury to feelings and £20,000 for loss of earnings. The tribunal made no order as to costs.

Russell, who was a paralegal with the firm for three months, had been successful in 2020 with claims for disability related discrimination and failure to make adjustments.

The tribunal previously heard that he joined the firm in 2017 on a probationary period but began to suffer severe stomach pain soon after and was later diagnosed with viral gastroenteritis.

Russell took a week off and when he returned colleagues noticed he took a long time with work-related tasks, had no urgency and forgot about deadlines.

Some of these issues were brought up during a 10-minute meeting where Russell was told he was not in danger of failing his probation. His condition then got worse and resulted in him requiring emergency surgery: the firm dismissed him less than a week after he was discharged from hospital.

The tribunal said it was ‘clear’ the firm was either aware that Russell had a disability or could reasonably have been expected to know. By not allowing him the change to explain how his performance was affected by illness, the firm was in breach of its duty to make reasonable adjustments.