Mr P Cox v Harland & Wolff (Appledore) Limited — 2024

The tribunal heard a preliminary issue in Mr P Cox's disability discrimination claim against Harland & Wolff (Appledore) Limited. It recorded that he had been employed as a Welding Engineer from 14 November 2022 to 10 March 2023 and that the question for this hearing was whether he was a disabled person within the meaning of section 6 of the Equality Act 2010. The claimant had nominated obstructive sleep apnoea, rhinitis medicamentosa, asthma, diabetes and long covid, and he also sought to add dyslexia; the tribunal refused that amendment because there was no satisfactory evidence of dyslexia and it was not related to the absences in issue.

Applying section 6 Equality Act 2010 and Schedule 1 paragraph 2, the tribunal held that the periods of influenza and covid did not satisfy the long-term requirement because the evidence did not show an adverse effect likely to last at least 12 months. It also held that diabetes was not shown to have caused a substantial adverse effect at the relevant time, asthma did not play any role during the employment on the evidence, and rhinitis was not an independent disability but part of the sleep apnoea picture.

By contrast, the tribunal found that the claimant's obstructive sleep apnoea was a recurrent disability with a substantial adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities. It relied on evidence of fatigue, drowsiness at work, inability to concentrate, falling asleep, prior fit notes and GP records, and concluded that the impairment had lasted on and off for more than 12 months. The result was that Mr Cox was disabled within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 at all material times for the purposes of the full merits hearing.