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A tribunal found that the company ‘failed to make reasonable adjustments’ for an autistic employee
A long-serving Eccles postman is to receive an almost £13,000 pay-out from Royal Mail after he successfully sued them over his work start-time.
An employment tribunal heard in Manchester last September and made public on Sunday (February 22) heard that Mr Darren Williams had worked for Royal Mail at the Eccles Delivery Office since he was 15, and had ‘for a long time’ started work at 5am.
The tribunal heard that ‘following the same pattern daily’ helped to ‘reduce anxiety’ for Mr Williams, who was diagnosed with autism and mental health issues in 2022, meaning he is classed as a disabled person.
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His routine was to help a colleague open up the office, sort through the post, and then begin his delivery walk at around 9am, finishing at 12.42pm.
“Starting and finishing early reduced the amount of contact he had with crowds of people, which he found anxiety provoking,” read the judgement. “The early finish also meant he could get home to support for his wife who herself has issues with her health.”
But upon returning from a period of sickness in February 2023, Mr Williams was informed that he had a new manager, a Mr Ward, and that his delivery walk had disappeared and had been absorbed into other routes.
Williams was again absent due to sickness from April 2023 until February 2024. Occupational health reports at the time found he had ‘severe depression and anxiety’ with issues at work that ‘needed resolution’ before he could return.
On September 7 that year Mr Williams met with another manager, Mr Carberry, to discuss his start time. Mr Ward, who had been tasked with reviewing the rotas, had said that he ‘needed to fall in line with the new office structure’ which ‘cannot support a duty that starts at 5am due to inefficiency’.
His new start time was confirmed to be at 6.45am except for Tuesdays when it would be 7.30am. But another health report from November said that 6.45am starts ‘would affect the claimant’s mental health leading to further absenteeism’.
Lawyers for Royal Mail acknowledged that the new policy ‘put Williams to a substantial disadvantage in so far as it increased his anxiety’ and that when it was introduced ‘had knowledge of the claimant’s disability’.
Williams remained adamant that he wanted to start by 6am at the latest as ‘relocation to another branch was not an option’. “Routine [at work] was crucial to the claimant,” the judgement continued.
Employment Judge McDonald ultimately found in William’s favour, that Royal Mail had failed to make reasonable adjustments for his disability. He found that it would have been ‘a reasonable step’ to revise delivery walks so that Williams could start at 6am, and finish at 1.42pm.
Judge McDonald also dismissed Royal Mail’s claim that Williams ‘had no tasks to fulfil before 6.45am’ and ‘could not pay him to come in early and do nothing’.
“We accept the claimant’s evidence about the tasks he had been doing for years,” the judgement continued. “We find that there would have been sufficient tasks for the claimant to start work at 6am, and that the claimant would have been able to transition to that with support from the respondent.”
Judge Mcdonald approved the payment of £12,925.59 for Williams in December last year. He also ordered Royal Mail to write to Williams to confirm his 6am start time under the Equality Act 2010.
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