For an impairment to come within the definition of disability it must be likely to last for at least 12 months, or for the rest of the person’s life, or must have lasted for at least 12 months. In Parnaby v Leicester City Council, P suffered from work-related stress. An ET accepted that P’s impairment had a substantial adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day to day activities, but it was not long-term because his work-related stress would not continue after his dismissal. Wrong, said the EAT. The ET’s decision was based on the fact that P had been dismissed, which had removed the cause of the impairment, i.e. the work-related stress. The decision to dismiss was, however, one of the matters P complained about as an act of disability discrimination and the ET had not considered whether it could well happen that the effect of the impairment would last at least 12 months or recur, at the time of dismissal and when other discriminatory acts had taken place, prior to the decision to dismiss.

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