Mr H Pope v And WFL (UK) Ltd t/a Watsons Fuels Held by CVP on 11 March 2021 — 2021

The claimant presented claims of unfair dismissal and disability discrimination. At this preliminary hearing the tribunal first considered whether he was disabled within the meaning of s.6 Equality Act 2010 by reason of anxiety and depression. It found the evidence about day-to-day effects was too vague and unspecific, concluded there was no sufficient evidence of a substantial adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities, and also held that any effects were not shown to be long-term. The tribunal accepted that the claimant’s GP records referred to anxiety and depression, but preferred the evidence in Dr Kathryn Newns’ report, which did not support a diagnosis of depression or anxiety at the level contended for by the claimant.

On that basis, the tribunal held that the claimant had failed to prove a relevant impairment and was not a disabled person at any relevant time. It also said that, even if disability had been established, the disability discrimination claims faced serious causation and justification difficulties because the claimant accepted that his conduct on 24 April 2018 and 13 June 2018 was unacceptable, and the tribunal considered that a reasonable employer could be expected to treat conduct of that kind as gross misconduct. It described the reasonable adjustments case as unlikely to succeed.

The unfair dismissal claim was not finally decided. The tribunal said the pleading was over-pleaded and that the claimant’s case had little reasonable prospect of success. It therefore made a deposit order of £1,000, finding that the claimant could afford to pay it because he had about £2,500 in savings and a net monthly surplus of about £1,000. No merits remedy was awarded at this stage.