The Court of Appeal held that a one-off decision can sometimes be a ‘provision, criteron or practice’ (PCP) subject to the reasonable adjustment duty, but is not necessarily.

In Ishola v Transport for London (bailii.org) the claimant was a disabled person suffering from depression and migraines. He was dismissed after a period of sickness absence.

Most of his claims had been resolved and were not appealed to the Court of Appeal; for example his claim for discrimination arising from disability was rejected on the basis that the dismissal was proportionate given the length of time he had been off sick and his failure to engage with management and occupational health.

The appeal concerned only whether the employer’s failure before dismissing him to resolve particular complaints he made was a failure to make reasonable adjustments. The employment tribunal said this was a one-off act of the employer in the course of dealings with one individual, and so not a PCP subject to the reasonable adjustment duty.

The Court of Appeal upheld the tribunal decision. There was no PCP on the present facts, so the reasonable adjustment duty did not apply to this part of his claim. However a one-off decision by an employer can be a PCP, said the court, if it is how similar cases are generally treated or how a similar case would be treated if it occurred again.

More: Reasonable adjustments: detailed rules>Can one-off decision be a ‘provision, criterion or practice’?