In City of York Council v Grosset, Grosset (G), a teacher, suffers from cystic fibrosis; this worsened when he could not cope with his increased workload, which in turn increased his level of stress. During this time G showed a class of 15- year-olds an 18-rated horror film, Halloween, without the school’s approval or gaining parental consent. The school did not accept G’s explanation that his actions had been a result of an error of judgment brought on by stress and he was summarily dismissed for gross misconduct. The Court of Appeal held that G had been discriminated because of something arising in consequence of his disability. G was dismissed because he had shown the film, his actions arose from his disability and there is no requirement under S.15 of the Equality Act 2010, as the school argued, that liability can only arise where the employee can show that the employer was aware that misconduct occurred in consequence of his or her disability. The BBC have subsequently reported that City of York Council has been ordered to pay G £646,000 compensation.

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