Employment Bulletin
Useful guidance on mental impairment disability cases (J v DLA Piper LLP)
The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has provided guidance to tribunals on how to determine whether a mental illness is a protected disability under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The EAT has advised that, in cases where there is a dispute as to whether a mental impairment exists, it will make sense to start by deciding whether the Claimant’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities has been adversely affected on a long term basis.
The EAT noted that there is a currently a blurred distinction between symptoms of low mood and anxiety that are caused by actual “clinical depression” and those that come from a “medicalisation of work problems” or “adverse life events”. If a Claimant’s ability to carry out everyday activities has been substantially impaired by symptoms of depression for 12 months or more, a tribunal would be likely to conclude that they were suffering from clinical depression rather than simply adverse life events.
Although the requirement for a Claimant to show the existence of a clinically well-recognised illness has been removed, it is encouraging for employers that tribunals have been reminded that they should nevertheless still look behind the vague labels that are given to conditions (such as “stress”, “depression” and “anxiety”).
The Claimant in the recent case also attempted to raise an alternative argument that, regardless of whether she met the ‘disability’ criteria’, she had been discriminated against on the grounds of her perceived disability. This argument was not allowed to proceed because she failed to raise it in sufficient time, however discrimination based upon perceived disability will be covered by the Equality Act 2010 and already has foundation in case law.
Proposed new pension age
The government has announced proposals to increase the state pension age for men to 66, possibly as early as 2016, with womens’ pension age to be brought to the same level within a few years after that.
The government also wants to scrap the default retirement age, which allows employers to remove staff at the age of 65.