Mrs K de Herder v Saint-Gobain Construction Products Limited t/a Artex — 2019

This was a preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Hutchinson, sitting alone, to determine whether Mrs K de Herder met the definition of disability under section 6 Equality Act 2010. The claimant said she had attention deficit disorder and anxiety, and the respondent accepted those were long-term conditions but disputed that they had a substantial effect on her normal day-to-day activities. The judge accepted the claimant's evidence and considered the occupational health reports in the bundle.

Applying section 6 and the 2011 guidance, the tribunal held that the claimant had a mental impairment with a long-term and substantial adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities, taking account of the effect without treatment. The judgment recorded substantial effects on cooking, shopping, sleeping, travelling, socialising, and getting to and from work, and noted that the claimant had developed coping strategies and was taking medication.

The tribunal therefore found that Mrs de Herder was disabled within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 at the relevant time. It did not decide the merits of the pleaded discrimination or dismissal complaints at this hearing. Instead, it identified the issues for the later final hearing, including failure to make reasonable adjustments, discrimination arising from disability, direct disability discrimination, and constructive unfair dismissal, and listed the final hearing for 15 June 2020.