Claimant v Secretary of State for Justice
Outcome
Individual claims
The tribunal found that being issued with a final written warning on 18 October 2023 was unfavourable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability. The claimant's absences had reached an adjusted trigger point due to her disability conditions of anxiety, depression, and long Covid, and the warning constituted discrimination arising from disability.
The claimant brought other complaints of disability discrimination which did not succeed at the liability hearing on 10-14 March 2025. The tribunal provided oral reasons at that hearing explaining why those complaints failed.
Facts
Ms Tyrell, employed by the Ministry of Justice as Operations Manager since June 2020, suffers from disability (anxiety, depression, and long Covid). Following sickness absence due to her conditions, she was issued with a final written warning on 18 October 2023 for reaching adjusted trigger points. She succeeded at a liability hearing in establishing this warning constituted discrimination arising from disability. At the remedy hearing, the respondent applied to strike out or impose a deposit order on her personal injury claim (seeking £15,200 for psychiatric damage) on grounds of no or little reasonable prospect of success.
Decision
The tribunal refused the respondent's applications to strike out or impose a deposit order on the personal injury claim. While accepting the medical evidence was mixed and the GP records and medication history did not clearly support the claimant's case, the tribunal found the evidence was not conclusively against her. A KCH letter noted increased stress could trigger long Covid inflammation, and her recovery took longer than anticipated pre-warning. This raised complex questions of medical causation requiring expert evidence, and the case was not hopeless.
Practical note
Even at remedy stage, tribunals will not strike out personal injury claims for disability discrimination unless the evidence conclusively disproves causation; mixed medical evidence and questions requiring expert testimony will survive strike-out applications.
Legal authorities cited
Statutes
Case details
- Case number
- 2304472/2023
- Decision date
- 16 May 2025
- Hearing type
- remedy
- Hearing days
- 3
- Classification
- contested
Respondent
- Name
- Secretary of State for Justice
- Sector
- central government
- Represented
- Yes
- Rep type
- barrister
Employment details
- Role
- Operations Manager
- Service
- 5 years
Claimant representation
- Represented
- No