BT Lose Appeal Over Autism Discrimination Case

Telecoms giant BT has lost an appeal against a finding it discriminated against a graduate from Queen's University Belfast with disabilities.

Kevin Meier was rejected a place on the company's Graduate Recruitment Scheme after failing an online test.

The 24-year-old lives with Asperger's syndrome, dyslexia and dyspraxia and has a high IQ of 139. He graduated in 2017 with a 2:1 degree in Computer Science and indicated on his job application that he was seeking to avail of the BT Disability Confident Scheme, which he believed guaranteed him an interview if he met the minimum criteria.

After taking the online Situational Strengths Test (SST), Mr Meier received an email informing him that based on the outcome of the test they would not be taking his application forward to the next stage.

An Industrial Tribunal, supported by the Equality Commission, found that the test would put people with ASD at a substantial disadvantage, and that reasonable adjustments, such as not to subject him to the test or not count the score, would have removed the disadvantage.

"The reasonable adjustments were not impractical; would not have disrupted BT's activities and did not put a strain on BT's resources," the tribunal found.

The Court of Appeal in Belfast has dismissed the company's appeal against the finding of discrimination.

Kevin Meier expressed his delight that the decision was upheld. He commented: "I believe it was an important case to take. I am grateful to the Equality Commission for their support. I hope this judgement will help other people with disabilities to secure employment in the future."

Dr Michael Wardlow, Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission, welcomed the decision of the Court of Appeal: "It's clear from Kevin's experience and from the Tribunal and Court of Appeal judgements that, where part of a recruitment process is not suitable for some disabled applicants, a reasonable adjustment must be made to allow someone with different but equal abilities to show how they could meet the requirements of the job. All employers must recognise that they have a legal duty to be proactive and consider what reasonable adjustments would be appropriate.

"One of the issues in this case was that while Kevin recorded his disability on his application form, this was not included in the information that went to the Graduate Recruitment Team. Therefore the Graduate Recruitment Team were not aware of Kevin's disability or that he wished to be considered under the company's Disability Confident Guarantee scheme.

"Online recruitment processes are now very widely used and these findings mean employers will need to review their use. We would encourage employers to look again at how they ensure all of their recruitment policies and processes are inclusive and offer equality of opportunities to job applicants and employees with disabilities.

"The gap between disabled people and non-disabled people in employment is a large one and has been there for many years.  Not just employers, but our policy-makers, must look again at how it can be reduced," concluded Dr Wardlow. 



(JG/CM)