Ms S Chan v Stanstead Airport Limited — 2023

Ms S Chan, a Security Officer employed since 2008, pursued unfair dismissal and disability discrimination claims. This judgment determined a preliminary issue only: whether she was disabled at the material time for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. The tribunal accepted that she began to experience stress in 2017, that she first discussed the perimenopause with her GP around July 2017, and that her menopausal symptoms included stress, anxiety, hot flushes, night sweats, poor sleep, fatigue, reduced concentration and memory difficulties.

The tribunal found that the claimant was not previously troubled by anxiety or other mental health difficulties, and that the stress and anxiety she described were symptoms of the menopause rather than a separate condition. It accepted her evidence that the effects varied over time but persisted from mid-2017 for several years. It found that the symptoms were more than minor or trivial because she needed to put systems in place to remember everyday information, had difficulty concentrating on reading, and had periods when she was unable to work for around four weeks at a time.

Applying section 6 Equality Act 2010, the Schedule 1 long-term test, and the authorities it cited, the tribunal held that the claimant's menopause-related symptoms had a substantial adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities and were long term because they had lasted, and were likely to recur, over the period from 2017 to the termination of employment. It therefore concluded that Ms Chan was disabled at the relevant time. This judgment did not decide liability on the unfair dismissal or discrimination claims, and it recorded no monetary remedy.