Supporting employees with dyslexia

October 2 – 8 was Dyslexia Awareness Week and with an estimated one in ten people in the UK having some degree of dyslexia, employers should consider how best to protect and support those employees. 

Key take-aways

  • Each individual experience of dyslexia is unique
  • An employer should speak to employers with dyslexia to ask how they can be supported
  • Advice should be sought from Occupational Health as soon as employers becomes aware, or ought to have known, of an employee’s dyslexia

Dyslexia in the Workplace

In recognition of Dyslexia Awareness Week, it is important to highlight how dyslexia may cause difficulties for employees, and what steps employers can take to create a supporting environment for employees with dyslexia.

The NHS describes dyslexia as a common learning difficultly that mainly causes problems with reading, writing and spelling, and can cause challenges with day-to-day activities. However, its impact on each individual is different and specific to that person.

Dyslexia can impact people to verifying degrees, and, depending on severity, it can satisfy the definition of ‘disability’ under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, so employers should be careful not to discriminate or fail to consider reasonable adjustments for employees with dyslexia. This was most recently emphasised in the case of Ms R Jandu v Marks and Spencer Plc.

Ms R Jandu v Marks and Spencer Plc

Facts

In this case the employee, Rita Jandu, was employed by M&S. Due to a business restructure in July 2020, Ms Jandu was placed at risk of redundancy. M&S created a selection criteria in which Ms Jandu scored two out of four (with four being the highest) in ‘Behaviour’, and was selected for redundancy. Had she scored one more point, she would have tied with two other members of staff who were not selected for redundancy.

During the consultation process, it became clear that Ms Jandu was marked down for various ‘performance issues’, such as:

  • mistakes/error in her work
  • not completing work accurately and on time
  • issues balancing workload
  • communications feeling rushed and lacking clarity
  • drafting emails in shorthand and bullet points
  • accuracy and attention to detail

Outcome

The Tribunal found that M&S had discriminated against Ms Jandu on the basis of her dyslexia, and that she had been unfairly dismissed. In finding that M&S had failed to make reasonable adjustments for Ms Jandu’s dyslexia, the Tribunal noted:

  • all the issues that Ms Jandu was marked down for were direct results of her dyslexia 
  • M&S should have sought further information from Ms Jandu relating to her dyslexia
  • M&S acted unreasonably by not seeking advice from Occupational Health, and
  • in consideration of all of the above, there was an appearance of ‘closed minds and bias’ against Ms Jandu

Ms Jandu was awarded a significant sum of £53,855 as a result of M&S’s conduct and recovered a significant portion of her legal fees from M&S.  

Lessons for Employers

This case is a reminder to employers of the importance of considering what reasonable adjustments can be made to accommodate employees with dyslexia.

Dyslexia impacts each person differently, so a one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate. Therefore, expert advice should be sought from Occupational Health who will consider each individual case and suggest relevant adjustments.   

Whilst Ms Jandu’s case relates to the redundancy selection criteria, reasonable adjustments can be made in day-to-day tasks of a business, such as:

  • specialist software
  • allowing more time for tasks
  • allowing employees to communicate in a more accessible

Employers should ensure that reasonable adjustments are considered, not only to ensure that they are complying with their legal obligations, but more importantly to create a welcoming environment for people with dyslexia in which they can access the support they need. This should be carried out as soon as employers become aware of, or ought to have known, of the employee’s disability.

For more information, please contact Gareth Walls, Partner, Aisling Byrne, Partner or your usual Employment team contact.

Date published: 13 October 2023.