Mr M Taggert (CWU union representative) For the v Respondent — 2021

This was a preliminary issue hearing in Manchester on 30 April 2021. The tribunal was asked only to decide whether Mr Aldred was a disabled person within section 6(1) Equality Act 2010. It found that he was disabled by reason of depression and anxiety at the material time, but it did not determine the outstanding unfair dismissal, disability discrimination, or unpaid annual leave issues, which were left for the final hearing.

The tribunal accepted that Mr Aldred had been self-reliant about his health and had not regularly attended his GP before late 2018. In October 2018 he described feeling overwhelmed, disorientated, lost and useless, and he used Openreach's STREAM process, which resulted in a red stress risk rating. He was advised to see his GP urgently, his manager was informed, and his GP records recorded a stress-related problem. He was signed off work for stress, declined medication at that stage, and received six counselling sessions on his return.

The tribunal found that the mental health difficulties were not a short-lived episode. It accepted that he continued to experience low mood and anxiety through 2019, including a breakdown in November 2019, and that he attended his GP again after the December 2019 disciplinary incident and suspension. Applying the statutory test in section 6(1) and Schedule 1 to the Equality Act 2010, the tribunal concluded that the impairment had a substantial adverse effect on day-to-day activities and that it remained likely to recur, so Mr Aldred was disabled within the meaning of the Act. The judgment also records that the question of Openreach's knowledge of any disability was left to the final hearing.