Ms W Wojtylak v Fibreline Ltd — 2022

This reserved judgment determined a preliminary issue under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010: whether Ms W Wojtylak was a disabled person by reason of back pain, and if so from what date. The claim form had included unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, and an earlier case management hearing had identified claims of discrimination arising from disability, failure to make reasonable adjustments, and harassment related to disability, but this hearing was limited to disability status.

The tribunal found that the claimant had ongoing back pain from 24 September 2018. It relied on contemporaneous GP records, musculoskeletal clinic notes, MRI material, occupational health evidence, fit notes, and the claimant's evidence about the effect of the pain on walking, sitting, climbing stairs, driving and brushing her teeth. It accepted that those difficulties were more than minor or trivial and rejected the respondent's submission that there were two separate impairments, finding instead one continual episode of back pain subject to ongoing investigation.

The tribunal also found that the condition did not become long-term until 21 September 2019. It accepted that the prevailing medical view during 2019 was that the problem was likely to be relatively transient and capable of resolution, and held that it was only by January 2020 that it became likely to be long term. The tribunal therefore held that the claimant was disabled by reason of back pain from 21 September 2019 until the termination of her employment. The judgment did not determine liability on the substantive claims and no remedy was awarded.