Miss E. Evans v Mr J. Hepworth — 2020

The tribunal held that Miss E. Evans was a disabled person at the material time, identified as 5 August 2016 to 8 February 2019. It found that she had a mental impairment, described as anxiety and depression, which was likely to last at least 12 months and had a substantial adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities. In reaching that conclusion it relied on the claimant's evidence, the evidence of her sister, the medical records, and the GP letter of 4 June 2019.

The tribunal accepted that the effects included difficulty with cooking and baking, walking the dog, socialising with family, feeding lambs, interacting with her nephew, and carrying out housework and self-care. It noted that the claimant had not previously reported mental health difficulties to her GP before 4 February 2019, but accepted the explanation that she was unwilling to discuss those difficulties unless something particularly bad had happened. It also accepted that the impairment had arisen from the employment-related events described in the evidence and that the assessment had to be made at the material time, without relying on hindsight.

On the dismissal issue, the tribunal found that the claimant's claim form expressed an intention to resign under section 95(1)(c) of the Employment Rights Act 1996. It concluded that the chronology did not support a dismissal before presentation of the claim form, and it did not accept the proposed express dismissal basis as providing a viable jurisdictional route on the facts before it. The constructive unfair dismissal complaint was therefore dismissed as premature and could not proceed.

The tribunal did not determine the merits of the disability discrimination claims or the holiday pay claim at this hearing. It recorded that those claims could proceed, and that any time-limit issues would be better dealt with at a substantive hearing. No monetary remedy was awarded in this judgment.