A pharmacist working for Morrisons has won her disability claim against the supermarket chain after an employment tribunal heard that she “struggles through the day” at work.
At a hearing in January 2025, a Cardiff Magistrates’ Court judge ruled that Jackie Whitehouse - a pharmacist and pharmacy manager at a Morrisons store in Newtown, Wales - “does have a disability” and that the details of her difficulties in the workplace are “credible”.
According to the decision document, Whitehouse provided two letters from her consultants stating several diagnoses including “likely lupus”, as well as a number of prescribed medications including co-codamol, folic acid and thyroxine.
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She also produced a letter from her GP, which said she had “likely systemic lupus which has manifested with previous skin problems” and joint pains occurring “particularly in the hands and feet”.
The GP letter added that the pain “is more apparent at the end of the day” and that Whitehouse “has modified her footwear to make things easier for her” and “uses painkillers on an as-and-when basis”.
“She seeks regular attendance at surgery and at her specialist rheumatological department,” it noted. “In summary, Jackie has a long-term health condition which is a recognised disease and is likely covered by the dispensations with the Equality Act”.
No toilet breaks
The tribunal heard how Whitehouse’s condition “affects her from day to day”, including that the joint pain means she “cannot get up in the morning without assistance from her husband” and that a rail was installed in her bathroom to “help her use the toilet”.
Whitehouse said she “discussed her disability” with Morrisons when she started work, and has done so a number of times since then when “challenged about wearing flip flops”.
She confirmed that she was “able to make informal reasonable adjustments” that “enabled her to carry out her role effectively” prior to February 28, 2024, but said “things became more difficult for her” from that date.
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Whitehouse added that she “has not had any days off sick”, is “on her feet all of the time” at work and “does not take a lunch break or a toilet break” all day, “despite working from 9am until 7pm”.
“She is too worried about using the toilet as she has been told not to use the customer disabled toilet,” the court heard, and “is frightened that she will be unable to get off the toilet without assistance”.
The court accepted Whitehouse’s husband’s evidence that she “struggles with her pain” and that he helps her to get out of bed, use the toilet and shower in the morning. It also heard from two other witnesses that Whitehouse “has difficulties” and that they “have to help her in work”.
“Credible” evidence
A lawyer representing Morrisons argued that “there is no substantial long-term effect” of Whitehouse’s condition on her daily activities, and that the claim she does not eat or use the toilet all day at work “is not credible”.
He added that Whitehouse had “exaggerated her evidence” because her account of her role at the pharmacy “differs to that of the occupational health report”.
But the judge found that Whitehouse’s evidence “is credible” and that her details of her difficulties “accord with the evidence given by her husband and her work colleagues”.
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“Her medical condition has been confirmed by her GP, and the medication that she was prescribed increased substantially in the time between the two consultant letters,” they added.
The judge also accepted Whitehouse’s account that “she struggles through the day as she loves her job”, but “has difficulties when she stops to sit down and when she gets home in the evening”.
They ruled that Whitehouse “was suffering from a disability, namely lupus, at the material time”, which is February 28, 2024 onwards.
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It comes as Morrisons has put a significant number of its in-store pharmacies up for sale in an effort to make the business financially sustainable.
While the exact number of pharmacies being sold remains unclear, the figure is in the dozens and C+D can confirm that the supermarket will not be selling all 120 of its pharmacies.
