Ms Siobhan Donaldson v Life Technologies Ltd — 2024

This was a preliminary hearing in Glasgow on 23 January 2024 before Employment Judge M Sutherland to decide whether Ms Siobhan Donaldson was a disabled person at the relevant time for her disability discrimination claim. The relevant period was agreed to be June 2022 to July 2023. The tribunal recorded that Ms Donaldson worked as an Associate Accountant from 7 September 2020 to 11 August 2023 and that she relied on anxiety, panic attacks and low mood as the alleged mental impairment.

The tribunal accepted that Ms Donaldson experienced episodes of heightened anxiety during the relevant period and that these affected normal day-to-day activities including sleep, driving her children to school, socialising, grocery shopping, working hours and working from home. It also noted the medical and occupational health material, including the March 2021 GP letter, the February 2022 and July and August 2022 occupational health reports, the July 2022 GP fit notes referring to work related stress and low mood, and the November 2022 prescription for anxiety medication. The tribunal found that these effects were more than minor or trivial, but it described them as sporadic and short term.

Applying section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 and the guidance and authorities it cited, including J v DLA Piper UK LLP, SCA Packaging Ltd v Boyle, Cruickshank v VAW Motorcast Ltd, Kapadia v London Borough of Lambeth, and Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Morris, the tribunal concluded that the evidence did not provide a reasonable basis to infer an overarching mental impairment rather than stress and low mood arising from situational and work-related stressors. It found that the claimant was not disabled within the meaning of section 6 during the relevant period. The disability discrimination claim was therefore dismissed and no remedy was awarded.