In person For the v Respondent — 2023

At the preliminary hearing in Huntingdon on 1 December 2022, Employment Judge Ord considered whether Mr Oliver Head was disabled within s.6 Equality Act 2010 and whether his objection to lateral flow testing was a protected philosophical belief under s.10 Equality Act 2010. The claimant relied on a 2016 facial injury and reconstructive surgery, but the tribunal noted that the most recent medical material was from late 2016 and there was no evidence that headaches or double vision had persisted. The judge also found no medical evidence of a current impairment preventing the relevant activity, and no evidence supporting the claimant's later assertion that he had PTSD affecting day-to-day activities.

On that basis, the tribunal held that the claimant had not established disability and the complaint of disability discrimination was struck out. By contrast, the judge accepted that the claimant genuinely held a belief that he would not put known carcinogenics into his system. Applying Grainger Plc v Nicholson and Harron v Chief Constable of Dorset Police, the tribunal found the belief was cogent, concerned a matter of weight and substance, and was worthy of respect in a democratic society. The judge said that this finding did not decide whether refusal of a lateral flow test was the real reason for the claimant's treatment, or whether the respondent had discriminated; it meant only that the case could proceed on the protected belief ground.