Guidance given on depression and disability discrimination

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has issued an important ruling which helps to clarify when a depressive illness will be treated as a 'disability' within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

In J v DLA Piper UK LLP, the EAT gave close consideration to the statutory definition of 'disability' insofar as it covers mental impairments.

The Act defines 'disability' as a mental or physical impairment having a substantial long-term adverse impact on a person's ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

Key points of the EAT's ruling are as follows:

• The EAT cautioned employment tribunals against taking an overly rigid or formulaic approach as to whether the existence of an 'impairment' has been proved.  Where there is a dispute about the existence of an impairment, it makes sense for tribunals to start with the question of whether the claimant's ability to carry out day-to-day activities is adversely affected.  In other words, the EAT said that the starting point should be the effect of the claimant's condition, as opposed to the clincial label which is attached to it.  The EAT did, however, state that it remains good practice for tribunals to state conclusions separately on the question of 'impairment' and 'adverse effect'.
• The EAT said that a GP is fully qualified to express an opinion on whether a patient is suffering from depression. 
• The EAT acknowleged that while there is technical distinction between 'clinical depression' (which is an illness) and a reaction to adverse circumstances (which is not), little turns on the distinction in practice.  This is because the tribunals are (or should be) primarily concerned with the impact of any symptoms of the claimant's ability to carry out day-to-day activites.  The clinical label (if any) is less important. 

The Employment Appeal Tribunal refused to make a reference to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the issue of whether discrimination on the basis that a person is perceived to have a disability is covered by the EU Equal Treatment Directive.

Notes:

1. Substantial revisions to the law on disability discrimination will be made by the Equality Act 2010.

2. The firm provides training for lawyers, HR managers and line managers on the Equality Act 2010 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.  For information on this, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it