Claimant v B and 1 other — 2019

This was a preliminary hearing on whether the claimant was a disabled person within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 at the relevant times for his claims, which ended at his dismissal on 8 February 2018. The respondent conceded that the claimant had an impairment, but argued that his depressive episodes in 1997, 2011 and 2017 were separate episodes rather than one ongoing condition. The claimant accepted in cross-examination that the earlier episodes were discrete and had been triggered by different life events.

The tribunal found that the 1997 and 2011 episodes were not flare-ups of a single ongoing impairment. It found no medical evidence showing substantial adverse effects on day-to-day activities in 1997, and it was not satisfied that the 2011 episode caused substantial adverse effects or that any such effects lasted, or were likely to last, for 12 months. The tribunal noted the absence of objective evidence supporting the claimant's account of the 2011 episode.

For the most recent episode, the tribunal found that substantial adverse effects on day-to-day activities began no earlier than May 2017. However, on the evidence available, those effects were not likely to last for 12 months until 10 October 2017, when the claimant's citalopram dose was increased and the tribunal found he was no longer recovering as he had in earlier episodes. It therefore held that the claimant met the definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010 only from 10 October 2017.