Mr R McPherson and Mr J Gallacher Mr P Phillips v Royal Mail Group Limited — 2024

The tribunal found that the claimant had anxiety and depression amounting to a disability under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010. It accepted that the condition had affected normal day-to-day activities since at least August 2013, with substantial effects when viewed without the alleviating effect of medication, even though symptoms varied over time.

The claimant was transferred to the Erskine depot after a disciplinary process and experienced a panic attack and decline in mental health shortly before he was due to report there. The tribunal found that this decline arose in consequence of his disability, and that the respondent treated him unfavourably by paying only statutory sick pay rather than full-rate sick pay. The respondent's justification argument failed because the tribunal found the claimant's absence was necessary and due to genuine illness under the contractual sick pay policy.

For the same reasons, the tribunal found that the respondent made unlawful deductions from wages by not paying full-rate sick pay during the relevant absence. The annual leave complaint failed because messages between the claimant and Mr Dunn showed that the claimant had been told his booked leave would still take precedence despite the disciplinary process, and the tribunal found he had not been denied the ability to take it.