Ms A Boyd, Solicitor For v Respondent — 2019

The tribunal dealt with a preliminary issue only: whether Ms K A Stewart met the definition of disability in s.6 Equality Act 2010, and if so from what date. It heard evidence from the claimant, considered an agreed bundle, and noted that she had been employed as an English teacher from 3 January 2017. After her father became critically ill in Jamaica in October 2017 and died before she could see him, she returned to work and then became tearful, withdrawn and unwell. She attended an NHS Walk-In Centre on 9 November 2017, was referred to her GP, was signed off work for two periods in November 2017 for bereavement, and later required sleeping tablets and, by June 2018, Sertraline.

The tribunal found that from mid-November 2017 and throughout her employment until 20 July 2018 the claimant suffered substantial adverse effects on day-to-day activities. It accepted her evidence as convincing and found that she experienced nausea, palpitations and claustrophobia; difficulty going into supermarkets, banks, public transport and her local town centre; fatigue; difficulty cooking and cleaning; reduced concentration; disturbed sleep; and reduced socialising. It also noted that these effects continued beyond the employment period. The respondent accepted that the condition had a substantial effect on day-to-day activities, and the tribunal said that the claimant was and remained unable to carry out a number of ordinary activities.

Applying s.6 Equality Act 2010, Goodwin v Patent Office and J v DLA Piper UK LLP, the tribunal held that the claimant had a mental impairment and that it was more than a reaction to life's challenges. It rejected the expert report's conclusion that she was not disabled, saying there was considerable evidence of adverse effect. On the long-term question, it held that, viewed as at 20 July 2018, the substantial adverse effect could well continue for at least a further five months, and that even if the impairment had only begun in late June 2018 it could well have continued to June 2019. The tribunal therefore found that Ms Stewart was disabled from at latest 22 November 2017. The judgment did not determine the substantive discrimination claims or any remedy.