Janet Peterson had worked for Best Cabinets for 5 years. Janet received a weekly salary of 400, before deduction of tax and national insurance, in return for working a 35-hour week, 9 - 5pm Monday to Friday.

The company operates on a 'three overlapping shifts' system: an 'early' shift from 6:00am-2:00pm; a 'day' shift from 9:00am-5:00pm; and a 'late' shift from 1:00pm-9:00pm. These shifts operate every day of the week, apart from Saturdays, when only an 'early' shift operates. The premises are closed on Sundays.

Janet's job involved assembling the various components into completed parts and equipment at her workstation. Although the component parts are not heavy, the work requires high levels of concentration and can be both physically and mentally demanding, as it requires the employee to stand at her workstation and work with speed and accuracy for the whole of her shift, the only breaks being two 15 minute breaks - one in the morning and one in the afternoon - and one hour for lunch. Janet was highly regarded as a worker by the company had an impeccable attendance and disciplinary record.

Around four months ago, before your arrival at the company, Janet had met with the Office Manager, Jonathan Steed to request a change in her working arrangements. Janet, who is a single mother of three children, informed Jonathan that her youngest child, aged four, had been diagnosed with a rare medical condition, which meant that she required greater levels of care for longer periods than Janet's current childminder was able to provide. Janet therefore asked if the company would allow her to work her hours over a different pattern. Jonathan asked Janet to 'put it in writing, and we will consider it'. You have found an email from Janet addressed to Jonathan immediately after that meeting, which reads:

Hi Jon, thank you for your time today and hearing me out about the problem of Sasha [Janet's youngest daughter]. As you requested, I would like to change my shifts to work 9:00am-9:00pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 12 noon - 8:00pm on Fridays, and 6:00am to 2:00pm on the Saturday morning 'early' shift. This will help me to fit Sash's care in with my work. Many thanks, Janet.

There is also a memo on Janet's file of a meeting between her and Jonathan 4 weeks after this email was sent. The memo records that Janet was informed that her request had been given 'careful consideration' but was being rejected for 'business reasons'. The memo also records that Janet became upset about this and asked if she could appeal the decision. She was informed that she could, but it would 'be no good as Tom [the CEO of the company] had made his mind up'. Nevertheless, it is clear from the file that Janet did appeal to the CEO, Tom Manby. There is a copy of a letter on file sent to Janet which states:

The company cannot be expected to arrange its workloads and shift patterns around colleagues' personal and domestic situations, so I must, with regret, reject your request and your appeal against that decision. You must work your shifts as per the terms of your contract.

The next item on Janet's file is a printed off copy of an email sent by her to Tom two days after the letter was sent. The email says that Tom's decision has made it 'impossible' for Janet to carry on working there and Tom can 'stick his job up his arse'. Janet has not returned to North Norfolk Components since sending that email.

This morning you have received notification from ACAS that Janet has submitted an application to enter its Early Conciliation procedure with a view to bringing a claim against the Company before an Employment Tribunal.