Paralegal dismissed after nine days loses ADHD claim

A disability claim brought by a paralegal dismissed by a south Wales firm after nine days - on seven of which he arrived late - has been thrown out by the employment tribunal. 

The claimant, named as M Nabeel Ud-Din, brought a claim against CJCH Solicitors after his dismissal in 2019 for poor time-keeping and his attitude towards colleagues.

Ud-Din told the tribunal at Cardiff that he had suffered disability discrimination due to ADHD. But employment judge Brace dismissed the claim and rejected Ud-Din’s suggestion he had told the firm about his condition. The judge also refused to accept that poor time-keeping should have put the firm on notice of Ud-Din's underlying disability.

The tribunal heard that Ud-Din had beenappointed as a paralegal within the anti-piracy and compliance team based in the Cardiff office. He claimed to have a background working in law and to be able to speak six languages.

The firm denied being made aware of any disability, and managing partner Tim Hartland gave ‘clear and unequivocal’ evidence that Ud-Din raised no concerns about his health. The tribunal rejected the assertion that disability should have been ‘self-evident’.

It was accepted by the claimant that, after his induction day, he was late on seven of the following eight working days. In his first week, he also requested to take his lunch break at 11.30am and did not return for two hours and 15 minutes, later explaining he was attending his own eviction hearing.

The firm then received reports from colleagues of concerns about Ud-Din’s behaviour which Hartland said were a ‘red flag’ for the partners. On his final day, Ud-Din was late again and received a letter dismissing him with immediate effect. It was only after Ud-Din submitted an appeal that he referred to disability.

The judge stressed that the firm could not be expected to know about any medical issue as there was nothing about it in Ud-Din’s CV or mentioned at interview, and there was nothing in his poor time-keeping to indicate a potential underlying disability. All claims were dismissed.