Ms Lakhvinder Kaur v Tunmarsh School and 1 other — 2023

This was an open preliminary hearing to decide whether the Claimant was disabled within s.6 Equality Act 2010 by reason of anxiety and depression at the material time, and whether disability discrimination allegations were out of time. The Tribunal declined to postpone those issues, finding that the Claimant had been on notice to provide relevant medical evidence and had had sufficient time to prepare despite the late service points raised on her behalf.

The Tribunal found that the Claimant had the mental impairment of anxiety and depression from late 2019 until her resignation in late 2021. It relied in particular on GP records, a note referring to significant mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, and prescriptions including Sertraline. However, it found there was insufficient evidence that the impairment had a substantial and long-term adverse effect on her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Because the statutory definition of disability was not met, the Tribunal dismissed the disability-related complaints: harassment related to disability, direct disability discrimination, discrimination arising from disability, failure to make reasonable adjustments, and victimisation insofar as it related to disability. The Tribunal stated in the alternative that, if the Claimant had been disabled, it would have struck out the Schedule A disability discrimination incidents as out of time, but would not have struck out the Schedule B allegations.