In person v Ms. Whelan, Consultant — 2022

This was an open preliminary hearing on whether the claimant met the definition of disability under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 for the period 21 March 2021 to 16 September 2021. The claimant said she had long-standing anxiety, had been prescribed sertraline since 2017, and her mental health had worsened from March 2021. The respondent accepted that she had anxiety but argued that the relevant condition relied on was mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, which was not formally diagnosed until 27 September 2021.

The tribunal accepted the claimant as a credible witness and accepted the medical evidence showing anxiety from 2017, ongoing treatment with sertraline, and continuing medication at the maximum dose of 200mg. It found that, without that medication, the claimant would experience panic attacks, difficulty getting out of bed or attending work, and suicidal ideation. On that basis, the tribunal held that the claimant's anxiety had a substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities and therefore amounted to a disability.

Although the tribunal was not persuaded that there was sufficient material to prove that the specific diagnosis of mixed anxiety and depressive disorder was present throughout the whole period from 21 March 2021 to 16 September 2021, it rejected the respondent's submission that the claim failed because that diagnosis was only made on 27 September 2021. The tribunal held that a claimant does not need to identify a particular diagnosis in order to satisfy section 6, and that the focus is on the effects of the impairment at the material time. It concluded that the claimant was a disabled person at the relevant time by reason of anxiety and could proceed with her disability discrimination claim.