What.a.week. The Tice household has been positively alive with activity – some good and some not so good. Highlights include a Birthday and Father’s Day and the lows including a trip to A and E and lots of blood…intrigued??
Let’s start with the good. It was Rob’s birthday on Friday – 21 again hey?! Not a big birthday this year (which indicates that last year was hmmmm… good detective skills!) We did manage to head out for brunch together at a lovely new little place in Derby called the Pepperpot – super cute and the food was amazing – highly recommend! The plan was that we were then going to go into town for some very exciting shoe shopping (work shoes for Rob… never say we aren’t rock and roll!) However, our daughter’s nose had other ideas!
In reality, we were lucky to have managed our brunch, as poor Emmie has had some epic nosebleeds of late. 2 hours of bleeding on Wednesday and Thursday, bless her! After going to the doctors, we were advised to go to A and E if it happened again. So, of course it decided to bleed again on Rob’s birthday! Emmie was super brave at the hospital and we left with the referral that I have so desperately been chasing to ENT. Gives a new meaning to the phrase “golden ticket” but I have truly never felt more accomplished.
We then managed a weekend free of blood – as all the best ones are! The birthday boy was spoilt on Father’s Day too, when me and Rob actually managed to construct a bench – no mean feat for us two and it is certainly giving me throwback to Philip building his decking and the rather fabulous employment law video he shot during that time. Sadly, there is no footage of us building the bench, but I can share the finished article and a very happy Rob!
Daring to believe we were on the other side of this recent “bloody” episode, I was brought crashing back to earth, when Emmie had another huge bleed at school. So, I will mainly be balancing on the difficult adulting tightrope as I simultaneously deal with work, looking after Emmie, kicking some medical butt to get the referral fast tracked, teaching Emmie what she is missing at school as well as the usual animal care etc etc! But this isn’t an Emma Tice therapy session….let’s talk employment law!
Let’s be real, most of us working in HR have at some point winced when hearing a manager saying something, shall we say, unfiltered. Usually though, it is harmless, sometimes it can be awkward, and then occasionally, as the case of James v The Venture (Wrexham) Ltd shows us, it can cross the line and cause a whole heap of legal issues.
This case really highlights what not to do when managing neurodiverse employees and serves as a helpful reminder that language can have a massive impact, and negative consequences, for your organisation.
Nicholas James was employed by The Venture who are a children’s play charity. He’s autistic as well having anxiety. He requested adjustments so that he wouldn’t have to work in loud environments and also that softer lighting be used, the Tribunal heard that these requests were initially agreed to by his employer.
However, there were then several incidents which occurred, including failures to respect his sensory needs as well as the Chief Officer remarking to him that, “Why can’t you be ordinary and perfect like the rest of us? Jokes aside, having always been something of a weirdo myself, I have some sympathy…” which the Tribunal (perhaps unsurprisingly) found had the effect of violating the Claimant’s dignity, and when this was viewed alongside the other failures, amounted to unlawful harassment related to his disability (his neurodivergence).
The employee raised a grievance about his treatment and (unbelievably) after doing so was removed from his open access role and not paid, despite the employer knowing his challenges were disability related. Not surprisingly, the Tribunal found that this amounted to victimisation, as well as an unlawful deduction of wages.
Mr James was awarded some £17,154.8 (including £15,000 for injury to feelings). Crikey!
Now, I know you might be thinking, “this would never happen in my organisation”, and maybe that is true, but we can’t always control what comes out the mouths of staff members and line managers, so it might be worth raising this case in your next team meeting and reminding people that banter isn’t always harmless. Calling someone a “weirdo” might feel like a throwaway comment to one person; may even feel that it is a senior manager showing some “solidarity” to the more junior staff. However, the reality is it can be very excluding and belittling to some. Remember for a claim of harassment to be successful, intent isn’t important. That is only one half of the test (the purpose or effect). Given we are not mostly absolute awful people, more often than not harassment claims come down to the second part – the impact of that treatment on the person bringing the claim.
Your managers don’t need to be experts in diversity and inclusion, but they do need to understand how their words and actions can be seen and how they can potentially be a risk to your organisation (and to themselves – remember these claims can be brought against individuals too!). So, as we always say, a bit of training can go a long way. We have the expertise and knowledge to deliver training sessions to your managers and employees. Arguably more importantly, we are down to earth and approachable and we make our training sessions accessible and relevant to everyone…even “weirdos!” (disclaimer – I am not basing the phrase “weirdo” on any protected characteristic under the Equality Act…it is my attempt at a bad joke that I now instantly regret!)
In all seriousness, I can’t emphasise enough the importance of training on this topic, and our sessions have always gone down really well. So, if this is something you would be interested in, get in touch with us today!
But for now, I will go back to balancing breaches of contract, bloody noses and most importantly… beloved Bentley.
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