£12k win for brewery worker ‘sacked over failing eyesight’

A FORMER BrewDog employee has won £12,000 in compensation after claiming he was sacked because he was going blind.

The billion-pound firm dismissed warehouse worker James Ross after he reported that his eyesight was deteriorating.

Mr Ross, who suffers from an eye condition known as Stargardt disease, was working in the company’s Aberdeenshire brewery when he told bosses he was awaiting tests for his condition, which causes a reduction in his detailed vision.

Despite reports from the RNIB charity and a specialist in visual impairment which said the 47-year-old could continue to work if some adjustments were made, BrewDog dismissed him.

Mr Ross, from Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, has won his case for unfair dismissal

The tribunal heard that Mr Ross told BrewDog about his sight problems when he started working for the firm in July 2016. In January last year he told his manager his vision was deteriorating.

The company’s health and safety manager, John Fairclough, was asked to complete a risk assessment and Mr Ross was given a high-risk rating.

RNIB employment adviser Ruth Morrell visited the brewery and recommended changes that could allow him to continue to work.

Mobility officer Jeff Bligdon was critical of the negativity of the risk assessment and added: ‘I felt that if [BrewDog] could end James’s employment with them, they would have done it there and then.’

Employment judge Nick Hosie said BrewDog ‘should feel more than discomfort at the lack of awareness evidenced of their legal obligations to consider reasonable adjustments for an employee they recognised as disabled’.

A spokesman for BrewDog said: ‘This was a really difficult situation, and clearly for the tribunal panel too as their decision on the outcome was split.

‘We ended up in a position where we had to balance James’s wishes with the best interests of the team around him, and while we regret that an agreement could not be reached, we have a moral responsibility to prioritise the safety of our team.’