Diana Kloss’s latest blog considers the case of an employee with multiple health conditions who was turned down for an overseas assignment.

In Owen v Amec Foster Wheeler Energy the Court of Appeal considered whether an employer was entitled to refuse to send an employee to work on a project in Sharjah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, because his disabilities created a high risk of a medical emergency while in a remote location.

The operations director decided that the claimant should not go to Dubai based on a medical report. He stated his principal concern was his duty of care to the employee.

A disability discrimination claim by the employee failed, largely because the employer’s actions were considered proportionate in the light of medical advice. Might the claimant have argued that the decision whether to take the risk should be his and not the employer’s?

Read the full blog: Health risk on overseas assignment.