Samir Bunjo v Progress Vehicle Management Limited — 2022

Employment Judge Cheetham KC heard a preliminary issue on 22 November 2022 to decide whether Samir Bunjo was disabled within section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 at the material time. The claimant relied on a heart condition following a heart attack in February 2019 and on anxiety and depression. The tribunal applied the statutory definition of disability and noted that the relevant question was whether there was a physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities at the date of the alleged discriminatory acts.

The tribunal read the medical material, including GP notes and cardiology letters. The cardiology letters of 16 July 2019, 19 November 2019 and 14 July 2020 recorded that the claimant felt fine or reasonably well, had no further chest pain, and denied breathlessness, dizziness or loss of consciousness. The tribunal treated those letters as the clearest evidence of his condition during the relevant period and found that they did not show a substantial and long-term adverse effect from the heart condition.

On the mental health evidence, the tribunal found there was less still to support disability status. It noted that anxiety and depression were recorded on two occasions in the GP notes, but there was no clear diagnosis or prognosis in the medical documents. The tribunal accepted that the heart attack would have been stressful, but held that this was not enough to establish a mental impairment amounting to a disability under the Equality Act.

The tribunal therefore found that the claimant was not disabled at the material time. As a result, the complaints of discrimination arising from disability, failure to make reasonable adjustments, and harassment related to disability were dismissed.