Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Case Summary

The claimant was dismissed for alleged misconduct related to not working her full contracted hours and claiming overtime wrongly. The tribunal found one reasonable adjustment complaint had merit but was out of time, and that the dismissal was fair despite delays in the disciplinary process.

The tribunal found the reasonable adjustment complaint well-founded but dismissed it because it was filed outside the applicable time limit.

• •Failure to comply with the duty of reasonable adjustment
• •Fairness of dismissal

Judgment approved by the court O’Brien v Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust © EAT 2025 Page 1 [2025] EAT 156 Neutral Citation Number: [2025] EAT 156 Case No: EA-2023-001029-RS EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL Rolls Building Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1NL Date: 9 October 2025 Before: HIS HONOUR JUDGE AUERBACH - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Between: MS C O’BRIEN Appellant - and - CHESHIRE AND WIRRAL PARTNERSHIP NHS FOUNDATION TRUST Respondent - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sapandeep Singh Maini-Thompson (Direct Access counsel) for the Appellant Charlotte Davies (instructed by Hill Dickinson LLP) for the Respondent Hearing date: 9 October 2025 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - JUDGMENT Judgment approved by the court O’Brien v Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust © EAT 2025 Page 2 [2025] EAT 156 SUMMARY DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION; UNFAIR DISMISSAL The employment tribunal found one of four complaints of failure to comply with the duty of reasonable adjustment to be meritorious but had to consider whether it was just and equitable to extend time in respect of it. It erred because it considered that question by reference to the wrong complaint. The matter was remitted to the tribunal to consider that question by reference to the right complaint. This decision also considers the potential application of the various sub-provisions of section 123 Equality Act 2010, concerning when time begins to run in respect of a complaint about a failure to make an adjustment which it would have been reasonable to make. The tribunal found that the claimant was fairly dismissed by reason of conduct. But in so concluding it failed to take into account its own factual findings about the implications for her ability to defend…