Ms Helen Jeffs v Countrywide Surveyors Limited Heard : by Cloud Video Platform — 2025

This was a preliminary hearing on whether Ms Helen Jeffs was a disabled person at the material time for her disability discrimination claim against Countrywide Surveyors Limited. The tribunal found her to be a credible and reliable witness and identified the relevant period as 1 April 2021 to 12 May 2023, during her employment with the respondent.

The tribunal found that all five conditions pleaded or identified in the case management order were present during that period: chronic fatigue syndrome, a sleep disorder, damage to the lower discs in her back/back pain, renal tubular acidosis, and the effects of a prior stroke. It found that each condition had a long-term effect and that the combined and individual effects were more than minor or trivial. The tribunal accepted evidence that fatigue, brain fog, memory problems, pain, lethargy, and sleep disturbance affected day-to-day activities including socialising, shopping, cooking, writing reports, reading, standing, lifting, climbing stairs, driving, walking, and using a computer.

The tribunal rejected the respondent's submission that because Ms Jeffs was able to attend work, the effects were not substantial. It held that she was directing her energies to work and that this did not remove the substantial adverse effect on her wider functioning. It also found that the adverse effects persisted despite medication, so there was no need to decide the alternative treatment question, although it referred to the statutory treatment provision in Schedule 1 paragraph 5(1) Equality Act 2010. The tribunal therefore held that she met the definition of a disabled person within s.6 Equality Act 2010 at the material time.