Mr R Robison, FRU For the v Respondent — 2022

At this open preliminary hearing the tribunal determined whether the claimant was disabled within section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 at the relevant time. The claimant had been employed by KPMG (UK) Limited from 5 October 2009, went on long-term sick leave on 5 November 2018, and presented her claim on 26 March 2019. The tribunal heard from the claimant, a friend who had observed some of her difficulties, and two jointly instructed experts: Dr Hallstrom, a psychiatrist, and Dr Perez, an orthopaedic surgeon.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant experienced real pain and functional limitation in her wrists, hands, arms and neck, but preferred the expert evidence on causation. Dr Perez considered that the right wrist ganglion caused more than trivial impairment only between January 2015 and July 2016, and that the remaining wrist and neck symptoms were trivial from a physical point of view. Dr Hallstrom diagnosed generalised anxiety disorder with associated depressive and panic symptoms and somatic symptom disorder, said that the claimant did not have PTSD, and considered that the impairment had become substantially adverse by mid-2016.

The tribunal found that the claimant was a disabled person at all material times. It held that she was not disabled by ganglions after July 2016, musculoskeletal problems in her wrists, or a compacted disc in her neck, but that she was disabled by stress and anxiety from November 2018 as a continuation of somatic stress disorder, with complex PTSD rather than PTSD. The judge noted that the finding may affect the reasonable adjustments issue and remedy, and listed the matter for further case management.