EAT DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION: Disability
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE
The issue for the Employment Tribunal was whether the claimant had suffered from an impairment which had a substantial adverse effect on his day to day activities for over 12 months. He had answered a question by the respondent (pre-hearing) as to what precisely his disability was by saying that he suffered from ‘TB’. Expert medical evidence was that impairments attributable to tuberculosis alone would have lasted for less than 12 months. Despite this, it was held that an employment tribunal was entitled to hold that he was disabled by reason of a constellation of symptoms not medically attributed to TB, which lasted over a year. An argument based on Chapman v Simon that it was outwith its jurisdiction or procedurally unfair to the respondent for the Tribunal to determine this, because in the light of the claimant’s answer to the respondent’s question such a case had not been advanced before it, was rejected.
Judges:
Langstaff J
Citations:
[2008] UKEAT 0571 – 07 – 2107, [2008] IRLR 928, [2008] ICR 1247
Links:
Employment, Discrimination
Updated: 17 July 2022; Ref: scu.270924