Mr J Hooper v The Chief Constable of Avon & Somerset Constabulary — 2023

This was a preliminary hearing on the issue of disability status. The tribunal recorded that the claimant's stand-alone unfair dismissal complaint could not proceed because he was a serving police officer, and that the only issue decided in this judgment was whether he was disabled for the purposes of his disability discrimination claim.

The tribunal accepted the claimant's written evidence and gave weight to the psychiatric evidence of Dr Vandenabeele, who diagnosed an adjustment disorder. It did not accept that the evidence established a separate mental impairment of vicarious trauma, because the material from Lisa Nel did not provide a recognised diagnostic framework or the formal features expected of expert evidence. The tribunal nevertheless treated other therapy and counselling materials as limited corroboration of the claimant's self-reporting over time.

Applying the statutory definition, the tribunal found that the adjustment disorder had an adverse effect on the claimant's normal day-to-day activities, including work and social functioning, and that the effect was substantial. It further found that the impairment was long term, beginning in 2015 and continuing beyond the claimant's dismissal on 3 March 2022, with effects continuing until at least 3 January 2023. On that basis, the tribunal held that the claimant was disabled for the purposes of bringing his disability discrimination claim.