We are a College and have received a complaint from a student. She has recently been diagnosed with dyslexia. Her tutor knew about this and not long afterwards, he chose to share an essay she had done as an example of ‘how not to write an essay.’ He claims that it was appropriate for the learning of the other students and he did not name her (albeit they all knew who had written the essay).
Peter replies:
The student is not an employee, but you are likely to be held vicariously liable for disability discrimination by your employee, the tutor. If your tutor did not know of her disability, it might have been insensitive and inappropriate to share her essay with fellow students, but it certainly looks like he did this knowingly, which makes it look like disability discrimination. At the very least the matter needs to be properly investigated.
Dyslexia is a recognised difficulty under Equality Act 2010, which replaced the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The official DRC Code of Practice specifically mentions it and it is included in the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of ‘Diseases’ i.e. it is clinically well-recognised. This means that employers should ensure that disabled people are not treated unfavourably and are offered reasonable adjustments or support.
Once you were informed of an employee’s (student’s) dyslexia, or been given a copy of an assessment report, you were on notice that there is a duty under the Equality Act. The more severe the dyslexia the greater the need is treat her condition as a disability. It is almost certain that as a College you have a policy which has been broken by his actions. If she had asked that people should not be informed of her condition, then he is almost certainly also guilty of a serious breach of confidentiality.
You should formally investigate this complaint, and seriously consider suspending him from work with pay, whilst you conclude your investigations. If part of his feedback to the class was drawing attention to mistakes that would have been directly influenced by her dyslexia, then the more inappropriate his behaviour was, so you will need to decide whether his conduct is sufficiently serious to either:
- dismiss him.
- discipline him in accordance with your rules and procedures.
You will also need to work very hard with the student and reassure her. You might ask her what she wants to be done about the situation. If she never wants to have any further contact with the tutor, then you might have to consider arranging this, or consider mediation. If she just wants an apology and no repeat, then you might consider this. However, if after a full investigation, you believe the incident is serious, you are able to disregard her view and take disciplinary action against the tutor.
The guidance provided in this article is just that – guidance. Before taking any action make sure that you know what you are doing, or call us for specific advice.
