Direct disability discrimination

The EA 10 says that a person engages in direct disability discrimination against another person if, because of the protected characteristic of disability, they treat them less favourably than they treat or would treat others (section 13, EA 10). For example, it would be direct discrimination to dismiss a worker because they have a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

The fact of the disability must be one significant reason for the less favourable treatment but it does not have to be the only reason, or even the main one, as long as it is not a trivial reason (Igen v Wong [2005] ICR 931).

There can be disability discrimination even if the influence of disability is subconscious (Nagarajan v London Regional Transport [2000] AC 501), or even if the perpetrator is “well-meaning” and has the disabled person’s “best interests at heart”.

There can be direct disability discrimination even if people are treated less favourably because they are mistakenly assumed to be disabled when this is not the case (Chief Constable of Norfolk v Coffee [2018] UKEAT/0260/16/BA).