Mr Mark Houston v Student Loans Company Ltd — 2019

Mr Mark Houston brought disability discrimination claims arising from the respondent’s Attendance Management Procedure. The respondent accepted he was disabled for Equality Act purposes, with stress, anxiety and depression forming the relevant disability relied on, although he also had diabetes and sleep apnoea. The tribunal found that the claimant’s case focused on a policy introduced in 2016/2017 which restricted employees who had triggered the formal attendance procedure from applying for vacancies and secondments for a period, subject to discretion and appeal. The claimant argued that this kept him in the Desktop Support role and worsened his symptoms; the respondent said the policy was designed to manage attendance consistently and to deal with secondments fairly.