Mr S Ellis, Voluntary Representative For the v Respondent — 2024

This was a preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Adkin (sitting alone) on 30 January 2024 to determine whether the Claimant was a disabled person under s.6 of the Equality Act 2010, read with Schedule 1, at the material time of 20 September 2022 in connection with a s.20 reasonable adjustments complaint. The tribunal considered GP records from 2017 to 2020, two disability impact statements prepared by the Claimant, and evidence from supporting witnesses. The judge made no finding on the Respondent's actual or constructive knowledge of disability or of substantial disadvantage, leaving those matters for the final hearing.

The tribunal placed greater reliance on contemporaneous GP records than on the impact statements prepared for the hearing, and noted that several claimed conditions (including erectile dysfunction, panic attacks, alcohol abuse and fear of public spaces) were not supported by the medical record. The judge found that depression was a mental impairment supported by contemporaneous medical evidence between November 2017 and June 2020, and that its adverse effects on day-to-day activities — including disturbed sleep, reduced motivation, difficulty concentrating, and struggling to participate at work as observed by colleagues — were more than trivial and therefore substantial. Applying J v DLA Piper and SCA Packaging v Boyle, the effect was found to be long-term, with a likelihood of recurrence as at September 2022.

The judge was not satisfied that the Claimant had discharged the burden of showing anxiety was a separate impairment causing a substantial long-term adverse effect, noting the absence of anxiety in the GP record despite frequent attendances. The judgment therefore concluded that the Claimant was a disabled person at the material time by reason of depression, but not by reason of anxiety.