in person For the v Mr Jones (consultant) — 2019

At a preliminary hearing in Exeter on 29 August 2019, Employment Judge O’Rourke found that the claimant was disabled for Equality Act 2010 purposes because of dyslexia. The tribunal accepted that he had been diagnosed as severely dyslexic at 18, that the impairment was long-term, and that it had a substantial adverse effect on day-to-day activities including remembering appointments, following verbal directions, cooking from recipes, and reading instructions. It also accepted that coping strategies such as diary reminders and route-planning did not remove the substantial adverse effect, particularly where stress caused those strategies to break down.

The tribunal further found that the claim had been presented out of time, the last alleged act being between 4 and 8 June 2018. Applying the just and equitable test under s.123(1) of the Equality Act 2010, and referring to Robertson v Bexley Community Centre, British Coal Corporation v Keeble and Apelogun-Gabriels v Lambeth London Borough Council, it extended time. The tribunal accepted that the claimant had delayed while pursuing the respondent's internal grievance procedure because he hoped to resolve the matter and was concerned about the effect on his academic career, and it noted that he brought the tribunal claim promptly once the grievance appeal had concluded.

The result was that the tribunal held that it had jurisdiction to hear the claimant's disability discrimination claim and directed that the claim would proceed to a further hearing. No merits determination or monetary award was made in this judgment.