Obese claimant was disabled, appeal tribunal rules

Case 2: The facts

Mr Walker suffered from a wide range of conditions, made worse by obesity – he weighed 21.5 stone. An occupational physician concluded that he suffered from a chronic permanent condition which affected his daily living. Nevertheless, an employment Judge decided that he was not disabled because there was no evidence of a physical or mental cause for the various symptoms.

With the support of the Bar Pro Bono Unit, Walker appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT).

The ruling

The EAT reversed the decision, finding that the claimant was indeed disabled. The judge had made a number of mistakes. In particular, he had ignored the statutory Guidance on matters to be taken into account when determining whether an individual has a disability.

The guidance says that “impairment” must be given its ordinary meaning and that what matters is the effect and not the cause of an impairment. Someone can still be disabled even if it is not possible to establish the cause of an impairment, although there may be practical problems proving the existence of the disability.

The EAT also confirmed that, although obesity of itself is not a disability, the fact that someone is obese can make them more likely to be disabled.

Walker v Sita Information Networking Computing Limited UKEAT/0097/12