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3 August 2005 - Tribunal Orders Disability
Rights Training for Virgin Managers
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An Employment Tribunal in Exeter has ordered three key Virgin
Managers to be trained, within a 3 month timescale, in how to make provisions
under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), especially with regards to "making
reasonable adjustments".
The Virgin Cross Country case was taken to tribunal by a train
driver employee, where he was awarded £41,000 in damages. It was
found that there had been a breach of the DDA in failing to make reasonable
adjustments when the train driver returned to work following a knee operation.
The tribunals decisions included not only the training of the
Employee Relations Director, the Head of Occupational Health and the Driver Team
Manager, but also the following:
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Virgin was ordered to pay the train driver his basic salary
until he can return to driving, certified unfit for any duties, or is found a
more suitable job at Virgin.
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Virgin would have to inform the driver of all non-safety
critical vacancies within Plymouth and Bristol depots.
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Any new post or employment must have suitable adjustments for
the train drivers needs.
The train drivers lawyer, Mr. Vaughan Gething, said:
"It is extremely unusual for a tribunal to make such explicit
recommendations in relation to training. Virgin really has been disgraced for
its lack of understanding of this extremely important area of the law.
"This is a very impressive outcome which I hope will set an example to other
train operating companies and all other employers who want to avoid being
publicly named and shamed in this way."
Commenting on his case, the train driver said:
"I'm pleased that the Exeter Employment Tribunal's
recommendations reflect the severity of Virgin's disregard of this law, in
particular that three key managers are required to undergo training to get the
point across to them that reasonable adjustments have to be made, and that it is
simply no longer acceptable, or indeed legal, to hide facelessly behind the
black and white letter of collective agreements in cases such as this.
"Employers such as Virgin must be brought to book if in the
future they continue to try to 'write off' employees who fall by the wayside
through no fault of their own. Until this law came into force it was all too
often the case that a lifelong railway person could find themselves cast aside
like human trash simply because an inflexible employer would not consider making
reasonable adjustments to accommodate a medically restricted individual. I
believe the tribunal's decision and recommendations will have far reaching
implications throughout the railway industry."
Further information on the DDA can be accessed from the
Disability Rights Commission Website by clicking the following:
The Disability Rights Commission - The Law
Article by Alexandra Johnston
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