Ms S Cameron v Dumfries and Galloway Health Board — 2022

The tribunal dealt only with a preliminary issue, namely whether Ms S Cameron was a disabled person for the purposes of section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 at the relevant time, which it identified as December 2020 to September 2021. Ms Cameron had worked for Dumfries and Galloway Health Board as a dental nurse and had suffered an accident at work on 16 November 2019. An MRI scan later showed a significant herniated spinal disc compressing nerves, and the tribunal accepted that she experienced back, hip and left leg pain, numbness in her foot, and difficulty lifting her left leg.

Applying section 6 of the Equality Act, the approach in Goodwin v Patent Office 1999 ICR 302, and the disability guidance, the tribunal found that the impairment had a substantial adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities. It accepted evidence that Ms Cameron could no longer do certain activities as before, including running and aerobics, unloading the washing machine, taking items out of the oven, carrying shopping, hoovering, and sitting or standing for long periods. The tribunal also took account of her need to sit to dress, wear slip-on shoes, and use an automatic car.

The respondent argued that she could work generally, that the specialist clinical parts of her role were not day-to-day activities, and that the effects were not long term because she had improved and could return with adjustments. The tribunal rejected that approach, finding that the impairment had lasted at least 12 months and that the substantial adverse effects had been present through 2020 and 2021 and remained ongoing, even though her condition had improved from acute pain to symptoms managed with weaker pain relief. It therefore held that Ms Cameron was disabled at the relevant time. The case was then to be listed for a final hearing.