The employee worked for the employer for over 30 years when she started to experience the symptoms of conditions which were later diagnosed as post viral fatigue and fibromyalgia. She had 66 days off work, 62 of them related to her disability. She was given a formal written improvement warning which was in accordance with the terms of the respondent's Attendance Management Policy that envisaged the possibility of disciplinary sanctions after a specified period of absence from work.

The claimant argued the employer should have discounted the 62 disability-related absences as a reasonable adjustment under disability discrimination legislation. Going forward, she thought all disability-related absences should be discounted. 

Unlike GB, Northern Ireland has no modified and unified Equality Act