The Claimant was a non-emergency ambulance driver. He was given a FFP2 mask to be used when he transported Covid-positive patients. The Claimant asked for a more robust FFP3 mask which were given to emergency ambulance drivers, the reason being that the Claimant suffered from extreme anxiety and a particular fear of catching Covid from Covid-positive patients. The Respondent refused his request, the Claimant went off sick and he was eventually dismissed. He lost his claim for failure to make reasonable adjustments and unfair dismissal at the ET and he appealed.

The EAT dismissed the appeal. On the reasonable adjustment appeal, there was no misdirection of law. The EAT’s judgment discussed the correct approach to cases in which there is no real prospect that the proposed adjustment, in this case an auxiliary aid, would make a positive difference for the Claimant. Turning to the unfair dismissal appeal, the ET directed itself correctly on the relevant law and then applied the law to the facts that it found. The ET understood that it had to consider separately whether the Claimant had been unfairly dismissed and did not simply assume that, because the “reasonable adjustments” claim failed, the unfair dismissal claim must also fail.