A North Wales bakery has been ordered to pay £18,500 to a blind man who was dismissed during his probationary period. An employment tribunal hearing concluded that The Village Bakery in Wrexham should have allowed Ian Stanley more time to familiarise himself with the factory layout.
Mr Stanley, who has been registered blind since 2010, began working at the bakery in 2023 after spending the previous 18 years as a waste-coordinator/packer at another food manufacturer. He was let go six weeks into his three-month probation period, and an employment tribunal has since found the factory did not do enough to accommodate Mr Stanley and his disability during his employment from July 17, 2023, reports WalesOnline.
According to the company, which employs 170 workers at their Coedpoeth bakery, the dismissal was made out of health and safety concerns. A tribunal hearing held last year heard how colleagues shared with management how Mr Stanley was making mistakes such as crashing racks of bread into machinery, dropping loaves of bread and not cleaning trays efficiently.
The tribunal found that support should have been offered to Mr Stanley before his dismissal, such as providing him with a support worker, giving a longer probationary period, telling colleagues of the claimant’s disability, and providing him with a high vis jacket/vest.
The employers claims that health and safety issues were the main factor in his dismissal was rejected by the tribunal panel as Mr Stanley worked at the factory for six weeks without a health and safety risk assessment taking place.
In his judgement, Judge R Brace said: “The Claimant needed more time to learn the layout of the factory – that as this wasn’t something he could see in the same way as others, he was unable to see what work his colleagues were doing to jog his memory and copy, so would need repetition to learn. As a result he took longer to learn by gaining familiarity through experience and touch.”
Judge Brace concluded: “In this case, we concluded that the respondent had dismissed the claimant, a disabled employee, without making a reasonable adjustment of giving the claimant more time in conjunction with a support buddy and raising employee awareness of the Claimant’s disability and needs.
“These adjustments would have in our view enabled the claimant to remain in employment and therefore the dismissal was not justified. We did not consider that dismissal was proportionate and therefore the claim that the dismissal was discriminatory arising from disability is also well founded and succeeds.”
A judgement published on Tuesday, January 14, ordered the firm to pay Mr Stanley a sum total of £18,567.57 to cover loss of earnings and injury to feelings.
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