A recent employment tribunal ruled that telling a colleague they were “too slow” could amount to disability discrimination. On the surface, it might sound like an offhand comment. But the ruling was clear: words can disable as much as systems can.
The case involved Yasmin Barron, a clinical coder trainee at Medway NHS Foundation Trust, who was awarded £32,583 after being removed from a three-year training scheme.
Barron had experienced recurring migraines and severe depression during her first year. Despite working for the Trust since 2013, she was criticised for being unable to work at the same speed as colleagues or “assimilate knowledge as quickly as her peers.” When given just two weeks to “turn things around” in July 2022, her suggestions for reasonable adjustments were dismissed.
She was redeployed in January 2023 and ultimately dismissed in March 2023 following an appeal. The judge ruled that Barron should have been given more time for her health to improve before her performance could be fairly assessed.
Inclusion can’t just be about avoiding risk
For HR, this tribunal case is a reminder that inclusion doesn’t live in policies or training decks, it lives in tone, empathy and how we show up every day. Bias often hides in the small things: in a raised eyebrow, a sigh in a meeting, a throwaway remark that lands like a stone.
This case highlights a simple truth: inclusion can’t just be about avoiding risk. It has to be about building cultures that get it right before the tribunal does.
Inclusion starts with culture, not compliance
Mental health and wellbeing belong at the centre of workplace culture, not as an afterthought, and not as a line in a strategy document. A culture of psychological safety is built long before HR is ever called to step in.
Such a culture depends on how managers speak to team members, how feedback is given, and whether someone feels they can admit they’re struggling. These are the moments that shape inclusion far more than a handbook ever could.
Essentially, psychological safety isn’t something you can announce; it’s something people feel.
Reasonable adjustments are acts of equity, not favours
Reasonable adjustments shouldn’t be seen as paperwork or goodwill. They are acts of equity. They are the practical expression of fairness that lets people bring their best selves to work.
For someone living with anxiety, migraines, neurodiversity, or depression, that might mean flexibility, trust, or simply being believed.
We can’t keep waiting for people to break before we offer support. Under the Equality Act, employers have an anticipatory duty to act before someone has to ask for help.
The best HR teams don’t wait for a diagnosis or a crisis. They plan for difference as the default.
Understanding inequity and the right to ask for help
Not everyone feels safe asking for help. Confidence, class, and culture all shape who feels able to speak up. Some will ask; others will internalise their struggle, afraid of being judged or side-lined.
Even when someone does speak up, a slow or dismissive response can deepen the harm. HR’s response time is more than an operational issue, it’s a cultural signal. It tells people whether they are valued or merely tolerated.
From reaction to prevention
To avoid repeating cases like this, HR needs to move from crisis management to culture design. That means:
- Embedding mental health literacy in leadership training: Help managers recognise distress early and know how to respond.
- Auditing systems and policies through an inclusion lens: Ask: who benefits? Who doesn’t? And what barriers remain invisible?
- Co-creating wellbeing strategies with employees, not for them.
- Establishing early support networks: Introduce voluntary wellbeing champions or a channel for anonymous check-ins.
- Measuring outcomes, not policies: Ask what’s working? Who’s staying? Who’s thriving? Who’s not?
When listening replaces defending, trust grows, and that’s something no tribunal can enforce.
Building inclusion into everyday systems
Workplace-passport models are one example of how HR can design inclusion into everyday systems. These tools help employees share what they need to thrive, focusing on barriers rather than labels.
By moving away from a purely medical model, organisations can reduce stigma and make it normal to talk about difference. It’s a shift from compliance to care and from fixing problems to preventing them.
When inclusion is built in from the start, we fulfil both the letter and the spirit of the Equality Act. We move from firefighting to foresight.
Stop viewing representation as charity
Representation matters because it reflects reality. Inclusion done well moves beyond performative kindness to become an honest reflection of who we are, removing the barriers that stop people from showing up fully.
The best organisations don’t wait for tribunals to tell them what fairness looks like. They listen, they co-design, and they build systems that assume difference instead of punishing it.
When we stop treating people’s needs as a problem to manage and start seeing it as part of what it means to be human at work, inclusion stops being a checklist and becomes centred around care.
