N v Represented by: Mr G Bathgate - Solicitor Greater Glasgow Health Board — 2023

This was a public preliminary hearing that determined disability status and the respondent’s strike-out and amendment applications. The tribunal held that the claimant was a disabled person between August 2017 and December 2021 within section 6 of the Equality Act 2010. It accepted that she had menopausal symptoms from April 2015, with the cumulative impact becoming substantial from August 2017.

The tribunal found that the relevant physical impairment consisted of sleep disturbance and profuse sweating, and that the mental impairments were lack of concentration and anxiety. It accepted that these symptoms affected normal day-to-day activities including getting out of bed, getting her child ready for school, driving, shopping, doing routine household tasks and social interaction. It concluded that the effect was more than minor or trivial and long-term, even though the claimant remained in work for much of the period and the symptoms later abated. The tribunal also considered hypertension separately, finding no evidence that it was caused by the menopause, but noting an interrelationship between the menopausal symptoms, anxiety and blood pressure.

The direct age discrimination claim was struck out under rule 37(a) because the comparator case advanced by the claimant was not the correct one for a section 13 comparison. The tribunal held that the correct comparator would have been someone in a different age bracket who exhibited the same behaviours as the claimant, and that the claim as pleaded had no reasonable prospect of success. Separately, the tribunal allowed the claimant’s application to amend the sex discrimination claim under rule 29, applying the Selkent/Cocking balancing exercise and noting that the case was still at an early stage; it therefore did not go on to determine the earlier strike-out or deposit arguments on the sex claim.