An employment tribunal has found that an employee at Wrexham-based children’s charity The Venture had received harassment related to disability, victimisation and unauthorised wage deductions.
Nicholas James, who was diagnosed with autism in 2019, was employed as a project worker in July 2021. He took on a second role at the charity and requested sensory adjustments, such as reducing background noise and bright lighting.
Although these requests were acknowledged, James did not feel they were consistently implemented. He said that he also experienced 13 acts of unwanted conduct related to disability, including being called a “weirdo”, and experiencing his senior colleagues asking why he could not be “ordinary like the rest of us”.
In addition, on 9 February 2024 the charity’s chief officer Malcolm King questioned James’ ability to work in open access sessions, and compared it to someone not being able to operate after “a good booze up”.
James then raised a formal written grievance in December 2023. There was no conclusion to the grievance, and in June 2024, he was suspended from his second role. He then sued the charity after being suspended, claiming he was “continually disregarded because of his condition”.
Judge Stephen Jenkins said: “The comments were inappropriate given King’s position. The discussion involved around King’s own concerns that the claimant’s work and care for children would be impacted by his mental health situation. And we felt that that concern was trivialised by King’s comparison of that with someone attending work suffering with a hangover. In the circumstances, we were satisfied that the comments did involve unwanted conduct which had the effect of violating the claimant’s dignity.”
The tribunal accepted the claims of victimisation and failure to make reasonable adjustments, and partly upheld the complaints of disability harassment and unauthorised wage deductions.
The charity was ordered to pay James £17,154.86 in compensation, including £15,000 for injury to feelings.
The Venture was contacted for comment prior to publication.
