UK: discrimination arising from disability claim only requires loose causal link

Employers should consider carefully whether there may be a connection between an employee's disability and their conduct before dismissing or taking disciplinary action for that conduct. In Sheikholeslami v University of Edinburgh the EAT confirmed that a claim of discrimination because of "something arising in consequence of disability" can involve more than one link in a chain of consequences. In that case an employee was dismissed because of her refusal to return to work in her previous role; the EAT considered that there could be a sufficient link if the disability caused her to experience stress and anxiety and conclude that she could not return to her previous role in which she perceived that she had been mistreated.