Leigh Day recently brought a disability discrimination claim on behalf of Jane Cordell, a diplomat with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
Jane, whose case was supported by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, was appointed as Britain's deputy ambassador to Kazakhstan in October 2009. Jane is profoundly deaf and her posting was revoked after the FCO said that her deafness made it too expensive to send her to Kazakhstan. Jane was told that the cost of providing her with trained "lipspeakers" (individuals who repeat a speaker’s message accurately, without using their voice) from the public purse was not reasonable and could not be justified.
Jane has worked in other overseas postings where lipspeakers were provided, with great success – her work championing disability rights during a diplomatic role in Poland was lauded.
The cost of providing Jane’s requested reasonable adjustments (the lipspeakers) is not the only issue before the tribunal. They also heard evidence relating to the costs of sending all officers, whether disabled or not, on overseas postings. For example, large sums are paid to officers in education allowances, which allow those officers to pay for the private education of their children in England. Other officers have large amounts spent on their security while abroad.
Without reasonable adjustments being made, Jane’s choice of postings is severely confined, and could also hamper her career prospects. One issue which the tribunal will decide is whether reasonable adjustments should be looked at in absolute cost terms, or whether those costs should be looked at in the context of the costs of sending all officers overseas.
Jane lost her hearing over several years as a young adult, and joined the FCO in 2001 after a previous career teaching English as a foreign language and working for Cambridge University Press. She rapidly rose through the ranks, earning praise from her managers for her “consistently strong performance”.
She said: “I am bringing this case because sadly it is the only available way to get clarity on my future FCO career. A diplomat needs overseas experience; I would expect to be able to get this. I am doing this for myself and other staff at the Foreign Office whose disabilities require significant support. We need answers to the question ‘Can we expect to have normal diplomatic careers, or not?’ “
The tribunal hearing was in September 2010, and judgment is expected shortly.
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