In person For the v Ms A Smith — 2019

This was an open preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Alliott, sitting alone in Watford on 2 August 2021, to decide whether the claimant was disabled within the meaning of s.6 Equality Act 2010 by reason of lumbar disc degeneration and/or stress and anxiety. The tribunal's judgment was that she was disabled by reason of lumbar disc degeneration, but not disabled by reason of stress and anxiety, for the material period from 15 April 2018 to 5 March 2020.

The tribunal accepted a 2016 consultant psychiatrist letter recording a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and it found those conditions to be long lasting, but it treated them as different from the disability relied on in this case. It also noted GP and occupational health records from 2018 and 2019 referring to stress at work, anxiety, breathlessness and occasional low mood, together with the claimant's evidence about her work situation.

On the mental impairment issue, the tribunal concluded that the claimant's evidence showed an adverse reaction to her work situation rather than a mental impairment of stress or anxiety. It found that the contemporaneous medical evidence did not show a substantial adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities. The tribunal noted that the claimant's impact statement mainly addressed her lumbar condition, and that the restrictions described in it were attributed to lumbar disc degeneration rather than anxiety or stress.

The tribunal referred to s.6 Equality Act 2010, the 2011 Guidance on the definition of disability, J v DLA Piper UK LLP and Herry v Dudley Metropolitan Council in explaining the distinction between a recognised mental impairment and a reaction to adverse circumstances. No monetary remedy was awarded because this was a preliminary hearing dealing only with disability status.