In Mefful v Citizens Advice Merton and Lambeth Limited, Mefful (M) worked for Citizens Advice (CAM&L) for 8 years. He is disabled, suffering from severe and constant pain to his shoulder and total hearing loss to his right ear.  M had two significant periods of absence during his employment, the first for 2 months due to grief and stress after his partner lost a baby and the second for 63 days due to his disability. M was made redundant. He presented a claim for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination. CAM&L conceded that the dismissal was unfair. An ET upheld M’s claims for victimisation and discrimination arising from disability. This was because of an adverse reference provided by CAM&L relating to a new job M obtained nearly three years after he had been dismissed. Upon receipt of the reference, the new employer had withdrawn the job offer.

The ET found that the employer failed to complete the section on the reference asking whether there was any reason why M should not be appointed to the post. In addition, (i) CAM&L conceded that they had significantly overstated M’s sickness absence by 64.5 days and no credible explanation could be provided; (ii) CAM&L failed to provide any favourable information about M personally or about his performance; and (iii) the person completing the reference held strong negative views about M which had been formed because of his pursuit of ET proceedings. Therefore: firstly, M had been victimised in that he had suffered a detriment because he had brought a disability claim under the Equality Act 2010; and, secondly, disability related absences formed a significant proportion of the absences relied upon to create the impression CAM&L would not reemploy M which was unfavourable treatment arising in consequence of his disability which could not be justified.

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