X v Respondent — 2020

The claimant brought a disability discrimination claim against the respondent. The preliminary hearing on 6 February 2020 was fixed solely to decide whether he was a disabled person for the purposes of the Equality Act at the relevant time, identified by the tribunal as around 16 April 2019, when he was dismissed. The claimant gave evidence and medical records were lodged. The tribunal accepted that he had a mental impairment at the relevant time, diagnosed by community mental health nurses on 28 March 2019 and described in the medical records as depression.

The tribunal set out the statutory test in section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 and the related long-term and substantial effect provisions in Schedule 1. It also noted Morgan v Staffordshire University as relevant authority on looking carefully at the medical evidence in cases of mental impairment. The claimant said his condition had affected his waking, personal care, eating, and socialising, and that he had experienced feelings of self-harm in March and April 2019.

The tribunal found that the claimant had not proved a substantial adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities. It considered his evidence about day-to-day effects to be generalised and unsupported by the medical evidence, which recorded that he had a good diet, a good relationship with his partner, and was attending football training several times a week. It also rejected the invitation to infer a worse condition without medication, because the GP would not speculate on the effect of stopping sertraline.

The tribunal concluded that the claimant had gone through a crisis in March and April 2019 but that this did not amount to disability at the relevant time. It found no evidence that the impairment had lasted 12 months or was likely to last 12 months, and no established substantial effect on day-to-day activities. The claim of disability discrimination was therefore dismissed. No monetary remedy was awarded.