Mrs D Daley v Optiva — 2020

This judgment was concerned with a preliminary disability issue and an amendment application, not the final merits of the discrimination case. The claimant was permitted to amend her claim to include reasonable adjustments allegations, and the tribunal then had to decide whether she was disabled within section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 by reason of underactive thyroid and symptoms of menopause.

The tribunal accepted the claimant's evidence about menopausal symptoms and noted that the respondent did not challenge that she experienced them. It relied on the medical records, including a February 2017 consultation when menopause was first raised and an October 2017 attendance recording hot sweats, panics, headaches, muscle ache, sleeplessness, flushing and anxiety, together with the occupational health report from November 2017 describing night sweats, sleep deprivation, concentration problems, depleted energy and temporary performance impact while treatment took effect. The tribunal found that the claimant was experiencing the relevant symptoms by the beginning of November 2017 and that they had become substantial by that time.

Applying section 6 Equality Act 2010, the four-part approach in Goodwin v the Patent Office, the EHRC Code, paragraph 8 of Schedule 1, and Taylor v Ladbrokes Betting and Gaming Ltd, the tribunal found that the claimant had substantial difficulties with normal day-to-day activities. It accepted evidence of problems with concentration, memory, fatigue, shopping, driving and socialising, and held that the adverse effect had been long-term because it was likely to last at least a year. The tribunal concluded that the claimant was disabled from 1 November 2017 and continued to be disabled at the date of the hearing.