Mrs N Dhaliwal v Royal Mail Group Limited and 4 others — 2023

This reserved judgment concerned only the preliminary issue of disability in a claim that included race discrimination and disability discrimination. The claimant relied on anxiety and depression as the relevant impairment. The tribunal found that she had a mental impairment of anxiety and depression from July 2021, when she was diagnosed and prescribed sertraline, but it was not able to find that the impairment began much before that diagnosis.

For the period from July 2021 to February 2022, the tribunal found insufficient evidence that anxiety and depression had a substantial adverse effect on the claimant's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, or that such an effect would likely have occurred without sertraline. It also found that, although there may have been some adverse effects on concentration and motivation from February 2022 to 11 April 2022, the claimant had not proved that those effects were more than minor or trivial.

The tribunal found that from 12 April 2022 there was a deterioration in the claimant's mental health and that anxiety and depression were at least one reason why she was unable to attend work and a proposed meeting. It found a more than trivial impact on day-to-day activities, including attending work, working a full shift and interacting with colleagues and managers. However, the substantial adverse effects had not lasted 12 months by 27 November 2022. The tribunal concluded that by 25 October 2022, given the fit note, continuing absence, ongoing and increasing medication, and the GP's reference to preventing further worsening anxiety and more time off work, those effects were likely to last 12 months. The claimant was therefore a disabled person from 25 October 2022, but not before.