In the case of Seccombe v Reed In Partnership Limited, Mr Seccombe was a Supply Chain Manager employed  for around one and a half years between 2016 and 2018. He was ultimately dismissed for performance-related reasons. Mr Seccombe claimed he was disabled by reason of his severe anxiety and depression. His employer denied Mr Seccombe was disabled and, even if he was, they had no knowledge of it.

The Employment Tribunal accepted that Mr Seccombe had suffered varying degrees of anxiety and depression that had a substantial adverse effect on three occasions which coincided with times of significant difficulty in his life. Two of these, in 2008 and 2015, preceded his employment at Reed and the third was the traumatic event in 2017 of which Reed was aware.

However, the Tribunal found that Mr Seccombe was not a disabled person at the relevant time as there was no cogent evidence of a condition that was likely to recur. Mr Seccombe had never been diagnosed with “severe anxiety and depression”.

In claims of disability discrimination, employers often fail in arguing they did not know the employee was disabled. However, in this case, the Appeals Tribunal agreed that there was no perversity in the tribunal’s decision. Mr Seccombe was not disabled on the evidence. He failed to demonstrate that his mental impairment was long-term. The tribunal was entitled to conclude that the employer did not know of any disability and the appeal was dismissed.