Mrs A Brzakalska v (s) In Person H Oleszkiewicz Greene King Limited — 2026

At an open preliminary hearing, Employment Judge McFatridge considered whether Mrs A Brzakalska was disabled under the Equality Act 2010 from June 2024 to May 2025. This was the sole issue before the tribunal. Her sexual harassment claim, mentioned in the background to the judgment, was not decided at this hearing.

Mrs Brzakalska said that her work as Kitchen Manager caused stress, sleeping problems, family strain and difficulty with tasks such as taking her child to school and walking her dogs. She began online sessions with a Polish-speaking psychotherapist in early 2025. The tribunal recorded that she did not seek medical help for stress or depression during the relevant period and that her medical records showed no related GP consultation until August 2025.

The tribunal applied the definition of disability in section 6 of the Equality Act 2010. Mrs Brzakalska had to show a physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. The tribunal also applied the section 212(2) meaning of substantial as more than minor or trivial, and the requirement that an effect must have lasted, or been likely to last, at least 12 months.

The tribunal found no medical evidence that Mrs Brzakalska had a mental impairment during the relevant period. It also found that she had not shown a substantial effect on normal day-to-day activities or that any impairment or effect met the long-term requirement. The judge distinguished a mental impairment from a normal reaction to adverse life events and found that the effects described did not establish disability.

Mrs Brzakalska said in evidence that she considered herself disabled from August 2025, after the relevant period. The tribunal therefore found that she was not disabled from June 2024 to May 2025 and dismissed the disability discrimination claim. No monetary remedy was awarded or considered in this judgment.