Toilet row - Bus driver with Crohn’s disease awarded £28k

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A bus driver with Crohn’s disease has been awarded more than £28,000 in compensation after his employer failed to give him sufficient toilet breaks.

An employment tribunal found that Midland Red (South), which trades as Stagecoach in the West Midlands, failed to make reasonable adjustments for the driver who was suffering from the medical condition, after it required him to work shifts that were longer than eight hours, had variable start times, and did not offer enough time for comfort breaks.

Toilet row

The issue came after the driver had to repeatedly ask for adjustments to his shifts and discuss his condition with managers, which he found humiliating. The tribunal found this amounted to harassment.

The driver, referred to as XYZ to protect his identity, had been employed by the company for over 30 years.

In 2016, the company’s occupational health department recommended several adjustments to his role: a fairly predictable work pattern with the opportunity to have three meals per day and take his tablets at the same time; regular access to toilet stops; and shifts of generally no more than eight hours, as he suffers from Crohn’s disease.

The OH report also stated that he would need to use the toilet several times a day, and if he got out of routine his condition could flare up, resulting in an unpredictable and urgent need to go to the toilet.

The driver had reiterated his needs via the grievance process on several occasions and the company said it would ensure he was given appropriate shifts in future. However, he continued to be given unsuitable work patterns and had been required to work shifts that did not meet his needs.

In January 2022, the driver’s request to change a particular shift was declined because the company felt it had to be “fair to other drivers” when allocating early finishes.

On one occasion he was asked to take a day’s annual leave because he had objected to a shift he had been allocated.

The driver raised a grievance about a shift that was too long and did not offer sufficient toilet breaks in July 2022, which was upheld. The company found that the shift allocation was an error on the part of the commercial team. He was instead allocated a new shift pattern.

The driver told the tribunal that he had soiled himself as a result of working unsuitable shifts. He had to carry clean underwear, toilet paper and wet wipes just in case.

He said he did not raise the soiling incidents with his supervisor because he found discussing his condition difficult and embarrassing.

“His witness statement says that he felt a ‘huge amount of humiliation’ at having to continuously ask the respondent to make adjustments. The respondent’s continued requests that he raise issues with shifts with management was therefore clearly unwanted conduct,” the judgment says.

The tribunal found that the company’s actions had not been malicious, but had created an environment that violated the driver’s dignity.

“We appreciate that the [respondent]’s requirements for staff can change, and that it needs to be able to operate its business with some degree of flexibility. However, we find that in the event that the respondent needed to change the claimant’s shifts, he should have been assigned an alternative shift that met the three criteria.

“This would have alleviated the disadvantage suffered by the claimant, in that he would not then have soiled himself at work,” the judgment says.

“The respondent has argued that it did its best to meet the claimant’s requirements, but that it could only do what it reasonably could given the nature of its business, the number of employees, third party requirements and extenuating circumstances.

“However, we are not persuaded that these factors justify the respondent’s failures to make adjustments.”

The judge awarded £25,000 in compensation for injury to feelings, along with £3,819.18 in interest.

What is Crohn’s disease?

Crohn’s disease is a lifelong condition where parts of the digestive system become inflamed.

It’s one type of a condition called inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)

Crohn’s disease symptoms

Crohn’s disease affects people of all ages. The symptoms usually start in childhood or early adulthood.

The main symptoms are:

diarrhoea
stomach aches and cramps
blood in your poo
tiredness (fatigue)
weight loss

The symptoms may be constant or may come and go every few weeks or months. When they come back, it’s called a flare-up.

Workplace discrimination

Discrimination in the workplace is when you are being treated unfairly at work because of who you are. This could include your gender, sexuality or disability and it could be from any employee include managers and colleagues.

But laws are in place to protect employees from discrimination at work under the Equality Act 2010. If you believe you have been discriminated against due to one of the protected characteristics you may be entitled to make a claim.

According to ACAS, the definition of workplace discrimination is when you have been subjected to less favourable treatment at work directly because of a protected characteristic.

Protected characteristics

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because of the following protected characteristics.

If an employee or employer is proved to have discriminated against you because of one of the characteristics there can be serious consequences.

Age
Disability
Gender reassignment
Marriage and civil partnerships
Pregnancy and maternity
Race
Religion or belief
Sex

What does workplace discrimination look like?

Discrimination in the workplace is not necessarily obvious. Please see below the different forms of discrimination which may present themselves in the workplace:

Direct discrimination – Treating a person less favourably because of one or more Protected Characteristics.
Indirect discrimination – There may be a workplace provision, criterion, or practice (PCP) which is not intended to be discriminatory but which has the effect of disadvantaging employees with a particular Protected Characteristic. For example, a policy that unfair disadvantages a group of employees with one of the Protected Characteristics.
Harassment – Harassment occurs when an employee is subjected to unwanted conduct relating to one or more Protected Characteristic which has the purpose or effect of either violating the employee’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment for the employee.
Victimisation – Victimisation means being ‘punished’ for reporting something at work that you believe is unfair such as being discriminated against.

What should I do if I have been discriminated against?

If you believe that you are being treated unfairly at work because of one of the above protected characteristics, you may have a discrimination claim.

Please contact Oakwood Solicitors Ltd as soon as possible to speak to one of our employment advisors.

Bus driver with Crohn’s disease awarded £28k after toilet row