Ms L Goulden v Simmons and Simmons LLP — 2025

Ms Goulden was employed by Simmons and Simmons LLP from 27 February 2023 to 27 September 2023. She brought disability discrimination complaints arising from her probationary employment. The tribunal heard disability and time limit issues together, but no amendment application was made, and it ultimately did not go on to determine the time-limit question.

The tribunal accepted from the GP records that by the end of May 2023 the claimant was reporting pain, fatigue, brain fog and difficulty with routine tasks such as cooking and washing her hair. It also accepted that there was some adverse effect on day-to-day activities. However, it rejected the claimant's evidence as unreliable, noting significant changes between her written statements and inconsistencies with contemporaneous messages showing that she continued to work, socialise and travel during the period in question. The tribunal said the medical records were the most accurate reflection of her symptoms.

Applying section 6 Equality Act 2010 and Schedule 1, the tribunal held that diagnosis alone was not enough and that fibromyalgia was not a deemed disability. It found that the claimant did not have a diagnosis of fibromyalgia during the relevant period, and that by the dismissal date her symptoms had lasted about five months and there was insufficient evidence that the adverse effects were likely to last at least 12 months or recur. As a result, the claimant was not disabled at the relevant time and all of her discrimination complaints were struck out.