Miss M Hall v Dudley College of Technology — 2024

The reserved judgment addressed only the preliminary issue of whether Miss Hall was disabled by reason of degenerative spine condition between 28 February 2022 and 20 September 2023. The respondent had already conceded that she was disabled by reason of depression and anxiety. The tribunal accepted the medical history as showing a physical impairment affecting the cervical and lumbar spine, and it found Miss Hall to be an honest witness whose oral evidence aligned with the medical material as a whole.

The tribunal found that the condition had a substantial adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities at various points. It accepted evidence that in 2011/12 she could not lift her son and had to leave work for a period; that in 2016 and 2018 she had grip, numbness and pain problems; and that between 2018 and 2020 she struggled to hold cutlery and could not pick up a baby. For the relevant period, it found no substantial adverse effect before late 2022, but from late 2022 there was a renewed flare-up, with walking poles and then a rollator being used and difficulties with sitting, walking, washing, dressing, cleaning and preparing meals.

On duration, the tribunal held that the effects were long-term because the condition had recurred over many years and, by early 2023 and certainly by September 2023, the flare-up was likely to last at least 12 months and likely to recur. It also found that the condition was progressive for the purposes of paragraph 8 of Schedule 1 to the Equality Act 2010: even during periods when the effect was not substantial, medication masked symptoms and the condition was likely to result in a substantial adverse effect. The tribunal therefore concluded that Miss Hall was disabled by reason of degenerative spine condition throughout the relevant period. No merits decision on reasonable adjustments or harassment, and no remedy, was made in this judgment; the case was listed for a further preliminary hearing on 26 February 2025.