DL Insurance Services Ltd

Case Summary

Mr Chaloner was dismissed by DL Insurance Services Limited on 14 December 2023 for posting offensive tweets on social media that colleagues found distressing and discriminatory. He claimed unfair dismissal and disability discrimination (arising from disability and failure to make reasonable adjustments for his autism and memory problems). The tribunal found all claims were not well-founded and dismissed them, concluding the dismissal was fair as the respondent had reasonable grounds for believing the claimant committed misconduct, investigated reasonably, and acted within a band of reasonable responses, particularly given the claimant's continued posting of offensive content after being made aware of the offence caused.

The tribunal found the dismissal was fair because the respondent had a genuine belief in the claimant's misconduct based on reasonable grounds following a reasonable investigation. The claimant posted tweets with discriminatory content relating to race and religion that caused genuine upset to a colleague (Ms M). Although the claimant attributed lack of initial awareness to his autism, the tribunal found this did not excuse his conduct, particularly because he continued posting similarly offensive content after being explicitly made aware the posts were offensive and breached company policies. The respondent's duty of care to other employees and maintenance of an inclusive workplace environment justified the dismissal decision.

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• •Whether the claimant was unfairly dismissed for conduct (posting offensive tweets)
• •Whether the claimant suffered unfavourable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability (autism and memory problems)
• •Whether the respondent failed to make reasonable adjustments for the claimant's disability
• •Knowledge of claimant's memory problems
• •Whether the claimant's tweets arose in consequence of his autism
• •Procedural fairness of the disciplinary and appeal processes
• •Reasonableness of the dismissal decision

EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS Claimant: Mr M Chaloner Respondent: DL Insurance Services Limited Heard at: Manchester On: 23-30 March 2026 Before: Employment Judge Phil Allen Mr B Rowen Mr BJ McCaughey Representation Claimant: In person Respondent: Mr J Cook, counsel JUDGMENT The unanimous judgment of the Tribunal is that: 1. The complaint of unfair dismissal was not well-founded and is dismissed. The claimant was not unfairly dismissed. 2. The complaint of unfavourable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability is not well-founded and is dismissed. 3. The complaints of failure to make reasonable adjustments for disability are not well-founded and are dismissed. REASONS Introduction 1. The claimant was employed by the respondent from 15 June 2016 until his dismissal on 14 December 2023. He was a commercial claims handler. The claimant alleged that he had been unfairly dismissed and had suffered disability discrimination (discrimination arising from disability and breach of the duty to make reasonable adjustments). The respondent contended that his dismissal had been fair by reason of conduct and denied discrimination. Claims and Issues 2. There were three preliminary hearings in this case. Following the second preliminary hearing on 30 June 2025, Employment Judge Childe had appended to his case management order a list of the issues to be determined (R64). Some of those issues were no longer ones which needed to be determined, as the respondent had conceded the claimant had a disability at the relevant time as a result of both conditions/impairments on which the claimant relied, and the claimant had withdrawn one of his complaints. The case management order following that hearing had included the usual provision that said that either party needed to raise any issues with the list of issues within 14 days. No issues were raised by…