Ms Miller For the v Mr Uduje — 2021

This was a preliminary hearing to decide only whether the claimant was disabled within the meaning of section 6 of the Equality Act 2010. The claimant had fallen on 3 February 2019 and injured his head and left shoulder, including a broken collarbone. He was off sick from 4 February to 8 March 2019, returned to work on 11 March 2019 on a phased basis, and went on garden leave on 17 May 2019.

The tribunal accepted that the relevant question was whether, at the material time between 1 March 2019 and 17 May 2019, it could well happen that the claimant's impairment would have a long-term substantial adverse effect. It noted that a substantial amount of the medical evidence post-dated 17 May 2019 and did not assist in deciding the claimant's position at the material time. The tribunal considered the GP notes, occupational health report, and consultant letters from March to May 2019, together with the claimant's evidence about limited arm function, nerve damage in his neck, and chronic pain.

The tribunal found that during the first weeks after the injury, while the claimant wore a sling and received standard treatment, he could not be said to have suffered from a long-term impairment and it could not well happen that he would suffer one. By early to mid-May 2019 the medical evidence showed intermittent weakness and numbness in two fingers, neck pain, and further investigations being suggested, but the doctors had not reached a diagnosis or opinion as to cause. The tribunal found that, although the injury was still healing, it was not likely to take 12 months to heal and it was not possible to conclude, on the evidence then available, that long-term impairment could well happen.

The tribunal accepted that later events showed the claimant had suffered a long-term impairment, but held that hindsight was not material to the question it had to decide. It therefore found that the claimant was not disabled within the meaning of section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 at the material time.