Ms Amanda Phillips v Smith and Williamson Corporate Services Ltd and 1 other — 2023

This was a one-day preliminary hearing on 29 March 2023 before Employment Judge Scott to decide whether Ms Phillips was a disabled person by reason of menopause within s.6 and Sch 1 Equality Act 2010 during the period 21 January 2021 to 30 November 2021. The respondent did not dispute that she had an impairment or that it was long-term; the issue was whether the impairment had a substantial adverse effect on day-to-day activities.

The tribunal accepted Ms Phillips's evidence that menopausal symptoms began in summer 2020 and continued through the relevant period. It found her to be a credible witness and accepted that she delayed seeing her GP because she feared early onset dementia. The tribunal accepted symptoms including disturbed sleep, fatigue, memory and concentration difficulties, brain fog, worry or anxiety, and difficulty coping with workflow. It noted that she started HRT on 2 September 2021 and that the medication eased symptoms but did not remove the impairment.

On substantial adverse effect, the tribunal found that waking two to three times a week and being unable to return to sleep, together with fatigue, was more than minor or trivial. It also found substantial effects from cognitive decline, including forgetting names and appointments, difficulty map-reading and navigation, needing to recheck work and matters before leaving the house, and needing to take time to compensate for tiredness. It accepted that activities such as mountain bike orienteering and map memory events were specialised rather than day-to-day, but held that sleep, exercise, leaving the house, map reading or navigation, and riding a bike alone were day-to-day activities affected by the impairment. The tribunal therefore found that Ms Phillips was a disabled person during the relevant period. No remedy was determined in this judgment.