Capital City College pays out again after disability tribunal

A staff member of a large London college group has been awarded a hefty payout after she was unfairly dismissed due to her disability.

Capital City College (CCC) was ordered to pay Ms M Garwood £62,281.52 after a tribunal hearing heard bosses discriminated against her disability.

Employment Judge Lewis ruled that the college group “failed to make the reasonable adjustment” of allowing Garwood to work from home from March 2022, subject to a review after three months, according to judgment documents posted last week.

Instead, the college placed Garwood on sick leave, which the tribunal ruled was disability discrimination as it did not consider any reasonable adjustments first.

The tribunal unanimously deemed Garwood was then unfairly dismissed.

Neither the details of the case, Garwood’s disability nor the written reasons for the employment tribunal judgment have been published. 

Garwood’s other complaint of unauthorised deductions from wages was thrown out.

The former worker was awarded a basic award of £4,282.50, plus £500 as an award for the loss of employee statutory rights arising from her unfair dismissal.

The financial loss Garwood incurred from the college’s failure to make reasonable adjustments was calculated as £6,682.41 plus £823.13 in interest.

She was then awarded £15,121.84 for financial loss from dismissal, plus £1,694.21 in interest as well as £1,979.54 in pension losses.

The tribunal also awarded a payout for Garwood’s injury to feelings before and after her dismissal.

Pre dismissal, the judge awarded £8,000 for injury to feelings plus £1,958.57. On dismissal, her award was £12,000 plus £2,377.64 in interest.

In total, Garwood will receive a net figure of £55,419.

The London college group has been involved in several employment tribunal cases in the last year.

Last April, CCC had to pay out £44,000 to an art and design lecturer after it failed to act on classroom safety complaints, including about regular flooding, which caused him to resign – an act that was deemed constructive dismissal.

Additionally, earlier this month, a part-time ESOL lecturer won a £30,000 pay award after her complaint that she was treated unfavourably compared with full-time workers was upheld. 

Capital City College and legal representatives for Garwood declined to comment.