Mr L Murdin (Counsel) For the v Respondent — 2024

The tribunal heard the disability issue as a public preliminary hearing on 18 April 2024. The claimant relied on uterine fibroids said to have caused heavy bleeding, anaemia, weakness and other symptoms between March 2022 and 20 April 2023, but the tribunal preferred the contemporaneous medical records to the claimant's disability impact statement. It found the symptoms began in June 2022, that the anaemia was an acute condition which was generally resolved by 23 December 2022, and that the claimant did not have the dizziness, palpitations or broader restrictions on shopping, driving, gym use or social activity that she described.

On the facts found, the tribunal accepted only that the claimant was reluctant to go outside during heavy bleeding and experienced some weakness and tiredness associated with anaemia. It held that this was not a substantial adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities: the claimant was still able to work, manage her children and carry on ordinary activities, and the tribunal considered any reluctance to go out to be minor rather than more than minor or trivial. It also found no long-term effect, noting that the bleeding resolved with injections in January 2023 and that the uterus was removed on 7 May 2023.

The tribunal therefore held that the claimant was not disabled during her employment for the purposes of section 6 Equality Act 2010. Her disability complaints, pleaded as direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and discrimination arising from disability, were dismissed and the final hearing listed was vacated. No monetary remedy was awarded.