The Court of Appeal has today attempted to resolve some outstanding questions in relation to the Disability Discrimination Act. Specifically the question of whether or not somebody can be classified as “Disabled” when their symptoms have ceased to present themselves but may recur in the future.

In a particular case the potential employee had a job offer withdrawn due to a medical opinion stating that she suffered from a persistent and delusional disorder. This condition was lifelong but she had not suffered an episode for some years. Unfortunately following the withdrawal of the offer she suffered a relapse and was committed under the Mental Health Act.

The original Tribunal and the EAT had said that the employer considered that it was right to take in the subsequent relapse in deciding whether or not the condition was likely to recur. However, the Court of Appeal overruling both of these lower Courts decided that in counting the later relapses and taking them into account, it meant that an employer was being required to have some gift of prophecy and this could not be the case. The sensible decision therefore is that the employer is only required to take into account things that have happened so far rather than things that might happen in the future.