Mr S Bible v Stateside Foods Limited — 2021

This hearing dealt with a preliminary issue on whether Mr Bible was a disabled person within section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 by reason of a mental impairment said to arise from post-concussion syndrome after a workplace fall on 22 October 2018. The respondent conceded that he was disabled by reason of a physical impairment, blindness in one eye due to wet macular degeneration, so the remaining issue was whether he was also disabled by reason of memory and cognition problems from post-concussion syndrome. The wrongful dismissal complaint was resolved separately because the respondent accepted that 12 weeks' notice was due and that sum had been paid.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had some adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities, particularly in relation to concentration, memory and articulating his thoughts. Healthwork records showed that his symptoms were most significant around late November 2018, when Ms Thompson observed difficulty finding words and completing sentences, and considered him unfit for investigatory or disciplinary meetings. The tribunal also noted that the claimant's own impact statement was limited and unspecific, while the evidence on the point was thin overall. By 11 December 2018 the Healthwork assessment recorded material improvement, with only residual headaches and some short-term memory loss remaining.

On that evidence, the tribunal found that the adverse effect was substantial for part of the period between 22 October 2018 and 11 December 2018, but it was not long-term. It held that the substantial adverse effect had lasted less than 12 months and was not likely, assessed at the time and without hindsight, to last at least 12 months. The tribunal relied on the contemporaneous improvement, the claimant's own report that matters were getting better, and Healthwork's view that a return to work by 2 January 2019 was sensible and achievable. It therefore concluded that the claimant did not meet the definition of disability by reason of the alleged mental impairment and dismissed the disability discrimination claims based on that impairment.

The tribunal said that, had it been necessary to decide impairment, it would have found a mental impairment in the form of memory and cognition problems resulting from post-concussion syndrome. It did not find evidence of an organic brain injury, and it treated the medical and occupational health evidence as showing recovery rather than a long-term disabling condition. Claims based on the visual impairment were left to proceed to a final hearing.