Ms Robinson (in person) For the v Respondent — 2024

The preliminary hearing considered whether the claimant was disabled within s.6 Equality Act 2010 at the time of the alleged discriminatory acts. The parties agreed that the material period ran from November 2020, when the first alleged act was said to have occurred, to 31 August 2021, when the claimant's dismissal occurred.

The tribunal found that the claimant's back pain substantially affected normal day-to-day activities from around March 2020 and continued through the relevant period despite surgery in November 2020. It also found that chronic daily migraines had substantial effects on activities including screen use, reading, language processing, concentration and conversation throughout the relevant period. The claimant was therefore found disabled by reason of back pain and migraines between March 2020 and 31 August 2021, and the disability discrimination claims were allowed to proceed.

The respondent sought a costs order because the claimant had failed to provide clean copies of documents. The tribunal accepted that clean copies should be provided, but took account of the claimant being a litigant in person and found that the annotated documents had not compromised its ability to consider the disability issue. No costs order was made.