Nov 28th, 2023
4 mins
An employee who was sacked after taking five days off work to recover from a near-fatal allergic reaction has successfully sued his employer.
After accidentally eating food that was seasoned with a peanut-based spice at his brother’s wedding, Ope Ajanaku’s reaction was so severe he had to be rushed to a hospital resuscitation ward. He was discharged the next day having been prescribed a course of medication and advised to take five-days rest at home.
The tribunal heard that Ajanaku followed his company’s absence protocol and told his boss he would need the week off to recover. But when he returned to work, he was informed that as he had been absent for more than 3 days, he would need to produce a medical certificate.
Ajanaku told the hearing he didn’t think he needed to submit medical evidence, as ACAS guidance suggested this was unnecessary if the absence was fewer than seven days. But consequently, Mr Ajanaku was then put on notice and was called to a disciplinary meeting which questioned his performance at work. He was then dismissed without hearing.
On the grounds of disability discrimination, Mr Ajanaku, a compliance & onboarding analyst at financial services firm Monsas, launched employment tribunal appeal proceedings where Employment Judge Tina Elliott said it was not disproportionate for his employers to seek a medical certificate.
However, the employers did not set out the allegations he was facing regarding his performance at work or the possible consequences of the meeting, he was not given time to prepare, or afforded the right to be accompanied. She said: “We find that had he not been absent, Monsas would not have dismissed him… for performance reasons, particularly when this had never been addressed with him.”
A compensation amount is to be decided at a later date.
Simon Williams, Chief Executive of Anaphylaxis UK, stated: “This is an important case as he won on the basis of disability discrimination due to his allergy. The case underlines how important it is for employers to take allergies seriously”.
