(sitting alone) Mrs L Fingland v Virgin Media Limited — 2018

The Tribunal determined a preliminary issue in a disability discrimination claim: whether the claimant had a disability for the purposes of section 6 of the Equality Act 2010. The claimant did not have sufficient qualifying service to claim unfair dismissal, and the Tribunal recorded that the precise statutory basis of the disability discrimination claim still had to be clarified.

The Tribunal found that the claimant had a mental impairment at the relevant time, specifically anxiety, depression and panic attacks. It accepted that her personal circumstances were a significant cause of her depression, but found that medical help from 2006, medication over the following 10 years, and significant flare-ups in October 2016 and March 2017 demonstrated an underlying condition rather than simply a reaction to life events.

The Tribunal accepted that the impairment affected normal day-to-day activities, including public transport, socialising, washing, cooking and eating, even though the claimant could still drive, work, take telephone calls and use a computer. It found that from October 2016 until dismissal in May 2017 the effect was more than minor or trivial, and that without medication the effect would have been substantial.

Although the substantial adverse effect had not already lasted 12 months by May 2017, the Tribunal found it was likely to last at least 12 months from October 2016. It therefore held that the claimant had a disability and that the claim could proceed. The Tribunal stated that its findings related only to disability status and would not bind a future Tribunal on the merits.