The date at which an employee can be considered disabled is often a point of contention.  In Singapore Airlines Ltd v Casado-Guijarro, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) reviewed an employment tribunal decision on this issue.

Miss Casado-Guijarro was employed by Singapore Airlines as a sales officer.  In December 2011 she signed off from work due to “acute stress reaction”.  Following her return to work in March 2012 she experienced three episodes of distress while at work.  She again signed off work in June 2012 with “stress/depression” and had not returned to work by the time of the employment tribunal hearing.

The question for the tribunal to decide was the date at which Miss Casado-Guijarro could first be considered to be disabled for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.  In the Act a person is not disabled unless they can show that they have a mental or physical  impairment that has a substantial effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Miss Casado-Guijarro felt she met the test under the Act in July 2010.  However, her employer argued that the correct date should be August 2012, which was the date of an occupational health report that confirmed she was disabled. The employment tribunal decided that Miss Casado-Guijarro was disabled from December 2011, the date when she had suffered a breakdown.

Singapore Airlines appealed the judgment.  They argued that the employment judge had taken into account events that occurred after December 2011 when deciding on the date at which Miss Casado-Guijarro could be considered disabled.  The EAT agreed.  It stated that the employment judge should have restricted herself to evidence that was available in December 2011 and not considered subsequent events.

The matter was remitted to the employment tribunal for fresh consideration.