The Claimant, who worked for the Respondent, was off sick for extended periods from September 2016 as a consequence of depression. In September 2017, she brought proceedings in the ET, alleging disability discrimination and harassment and victimisation. The ET held that, because the Claimant's depression had had a substantial adverse effect on her for the 12-month period from September 2016 to September 2017, she was suffering a disability during the whole of that period on the basis of paragraph 2(1)(a) of Schedule 1 to the Equality Act 2010. The Respondent appealed on the ground that the effects of the impairment were not "long-term" at the relevant dates.

The EAT held that the ET had wrongly applied paragraph 2(1)(a) and, on its findings, the Claimant could only have been disabled as from 12 months after her periods of absence starting in September 2016. Accordingly, it would substitute a finding to the effect that the Claimant was disabled for only a few days prior to the presentation of her ET1 in September 2017.