Long-term impairment

Case 1: The facts

Checkout operator Ms Ginn suffered from vertigo and rhinitis, episodic but unpredictable conditions that affected her mobility and vision.

A tribunal held that she was not disabled under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) because it had no prognosis of her condition.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that, once the tribunal had established that a condition had lasted for a year and had a substantial adverse effect on Ginn's day-to-day activities, it did not need to consider any prognosis. This was all that was required under the DDA, and meant that Ginn's vertigo did constitute a disability.

The tribunal had also been wrong to dismiss the combined effect of the two conditions. Guidance to the DDA says that, if a person has multiple impairments, a tribunal should take into account their combined effect.

Ginn v Tesco Stores UKEAT/0197/05