When disability begins

Case 2: The facts

Following a couple of falls which injured her ankle, Alison Elliott eventually developed a condition known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD - a disability) and resigned from her employment. She claimed that she was a disabled person under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and that her employer therefore had a legal duty to make adjustments to enable her to continue in work. Their failure left her with no alternative but to resign. At the EAT the main issue was the date when her disability began.

The ruling

The EAT held that the date from which the disability existed was the point in time when diagnosis of RSD was made. This meant that at the date of her resignation she was not disabled under the Act.

* Pertemps Recruitment Partnership v Elliot EAT/0648/02