An employment lawyer who appeared at tribunals during a time he said he was “pretty constantly bedbound” due to a back injury has had his disability discrimination claim rejected, Legal Futures has reported.

Claimant Sam Langi’s back injury was the result of a road traffic accident in May 2019, but his former employer contested the evidence, stating that it was “an exaggerated account of his condition.”

After saying he was “pretty constantly bed bound from August 2019 through to around April 2020”, during that time Mr Langi made appearances at the London East Employment Tribunal and worked on occasion at another location an hour away from his home.

Mr Langi was dismissed in January 2020, which he claimed was disability discrimination.

The Employment Tribunal judge said:

“The claimant accepted that he did not seek to be excused from either duty but stated that he carried out his duties with difficulty, in pain and discomfort, wearing some form of support aid.”

He accepted there was evidence that the injury impacted on Mr Langi’s ability to do day-to-day activities, but to be disabled for these purposes, the effect of the impairment must be “long-term” and last for at least 12 months.

Under the Equality Act 2010, an individual is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on their ability to do normal daily activities.

‘Substantial’ is more than minor or trivial, e.g. it takes much longer than it usually would to complete a daily task like getting dressed.

‘Long-term’ means 12 months or more, e.g. a breathing condition that develops as a result of a lung infection.

The judge said the evidence did not show that, at the time of Mr Langi’s dismissal, his back injury would last that long; rather, it was “improving and expected to clear up”.

Read the full report here.