NHS trust is ordered to pay job applicant with stammer nearly £17k after they withdrew their officer when he admitted he was too embarrassed to make phone calls in front of colleagues

• Nazakat Ali asked if he could use a separate room to privately make phone calls 
• Trust claimed he had ‘misled’ them at the interview, employment tribunal heard

An NHS trust has been ordered to pay out nearly £17,000 after they withdrew a job offer to an applicant with a stammer when he said he was too embarrassed to make phone calls in front of colleagues.

Having handed in his notice at his previous employer, Nazakat Ali asked his new prospective bosses if he could use a separate room to speak on the phone privately as being around new people made him nervous and exacerbated his speech impediment.

They then withdrew the offer, claiming he had ‘misled’ them at the interview, an employment tribunal heard.

He successfully sued them for disability discrimination and has been awarded £16,969 in compensation.

The hearing in Manchester was told that Mr Ali – who was working for the health service in Stockport, Greater Manchester – applied for a job with Pennine Care NHS Trust in January 2021.

NazakatAli – who was working for the health service in Stockport, Greater Manchester – applied for a job with Pennine Care NHS Trust (pictured) in January 2021. Pictured: Pennine Care NHS office building, Manchester

Having handed in his notice at his previous employer, Nazakat Ali asked his new prospective bosses if he could use a separate room to speak on the phone privately as being around new people made him nervous and exacerbated his speech impediment

It heard he was offered the role of Subject Access Coordinator within the Subject Access and Freedom of Information Department following an interview, at which it was ‘clear’ to his interviewers he had a speech impediment.

Mr Ali told them he gets ‘nervous’ around new people and this ‘kicks off’ his stammer but assured them it would improve once he got to know them.

Once he had accepted the job, he handed in his notice with his existing employer, only for Head of Information Governance & Data Protection Officer Paul Byrne to cancel his offer when Mr Ali asked if he could begin by making calls privately.

The tribunal heard Mr Byrne decided to withdraw the offer ‘without any discussion’ with Mr Ali.

In a phone call, he told Mr Ali he would no longer be joining the seven-person team.

After Mr Ali urged him to reconsider, Mr Byrne wrote in an email that he ‘could not be sure’ the impediment would not affect his job performance, the tribunal heard.

Mr Byrne wrote: ‘Just to be clear, the reason the offer was withdrawn wasn’t the speech impediment itself.

‘Firstly, at interview we had conversations about your speech impediment, and you assured us it would not interfere with your ability to work.

They then withdrew the offer, claiming he had ‘misled’ them at the interview, an employment tribunal heard

‘We felt misled once we received the email.

‘I appreciate your comments about you not believing your speech impediment would be an issue.

‘However that is not the implication from your email, or from our calls, and therefore I cannot be assured that it would not have any bearing on your ability to do the job.’

However, the hearing was told that Mr Ali was already working at another NHS trust which allowed him to make calls privately.

The tribunal, led by employment judge Hilary Slater, upheld Mr Ali’s claim of disability discrimination and that the Trust should have accommodated him by making ‘reasonable adjustments’ regarding the use of phones.

Judge Slater said: ‘We found that [Mr Ali] does have more difficulty in speaking in front of people he does not know well.

‘The difficulty reduces when he knows people better. We conclude that the unfavourable treatment was because of something arising in consequence of disability.

‘We conclude that the complaint of failure to make reasonable adjustments is well founded.’

The tribunal said that rather than withdrawing the offer, Pennine Care could have offered Mr Ali a trial period, an ‘enhanced familiarisation process’ to new staff and the working environment and letting him work in another office.

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