Robert Cook v Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust — 2023

This was a preliminary hearing in Robert Cook's case against Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust on whether he was disabled for the purposes of his complaints of discrimination arising from disability and failure to make reasonable adjustments. The tribunal sat alone, heard evidence from the claimant and a written statement from his manager, and accepted that the issue for decision was limited to disability status. It distinguished a short-lived stress and anxiety episode in 2017 from the later period beginning in 2020.

The tribunal preferred the contemporaneous occupational health, counselling and GP records to the claimant's later evidence where there was any difference. It found that from May 2020 he experienced difficulty concentrating, problems dealing with emails, anxiety when the phone rang, sleep disturbance, reduced routine, and withdrawal from social contact. Those effects were more than minor or trivial and were substantial, but on the evidence available up to March 2021 the tribunal was not satisfied that they were likely to last for 12 months or recur so as to meet the long-term limb of the statutory test.

The position changed when counselling records beginning on 27 August 2021 recorded mild anxiety and depression, together with anxiety about socialising and the phone ringing and continuing stress linked to work. The tribunal held that some of the substantial adverse effects present between May 2020 and March 2021 had recurred beyond 12 months after first occurring, and in any event that it could well happen that those effects would recur given the ongoing work management process. It therefore found that Mr Cook was a disabled person by reason of anxiety and depression from 27 August 2021 and at all material times thereafter. This judgment did not determine liability or remedy on the substantive discrimination complaints.