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A pharmacist has won a disability claim against the supermarket chain Morrisons after an employment tribunal concluded she suffers from lupus which leaves her struggling at work on a daily basis.

Jackie Whitehouse described to the tribunal in Cardiff last month how the disease causes her “difficulties” in her job as a pharmacist and pharmacy manager in the multiple’s Newtown Powys branch, including “joint pains and aches, particularly in the hands and feet which make walking painful”.

She told the tribunal she works from 9am until 7pm and does not take a lunch or a toilet break, the latter because she was “too worried…as she was told not to use the customer-disabled toilet”.

Goes the entire day without food or using the toilet

The tribunal heard Mrs Whitehouse was “frightened that she would be unable to get off the toilet without assistance” and so goes the entire day without food or using the toilet.

In her evidence, she produced two letters from consultants, the first dated August 1, 2023 which stated her diagnosis was “likely lupus, ANA (antinuclear antibody) positive 1:320, recurrent urticaria/angioedema, past bulimia, adverse reaction to hydroxychloroquine, hypothyroidism, vitiligo, pernicious anaemia”. It also said she was prescribed Phenergan.

The second letter, dated July 10, 2024, repeats those diagnoses and lists medications vitamin B12 injections, co-codamol, thyroxine, folic acid and duloxetine. The doctor who wrote the letter said he was considering treating her with azathioprine and would review her in six months’ time.

Mrs Whitehouse also produced a letter from a GP, dated August 28, 2024, which stated she has “likely systemic lupus which has manifested with previous skin problems and joint pains”.

The letter added: “These joint pains are generally managed well by Jackie…she gets joint pains and aches, particularly in the hands and feet which will make walking painful. This is more apparent at the end of the day.

“She has modified her footwear to make things easier for her and uses painkillers on as and when basis. She seeks regular attendance at surgery and at her specialist rheumatological department.”

She told the tribunal the disease “affects her from day to day”, leaving her unable to get up in the morning without help from her husband “as her joints are painful”.

She said a rail was installed in her bathroom to help her use the toilet and sometimes sleeps downstairs on the settee in the living room because “it is too painful for her to walk up the stairs to go to the bedroom”.

Mrs Whitehouse’s evidence also included a statement from her husband and two statements from work colleagues. She said she discussed her disability with Morrisons when she started working there in August 2021 and had “done so on a number of occasions”.

She claimed she was “challenged about wearing flip-flops” before “things became more difficult for her”.

A lawyer for Morrisons told the tribunal her condition had “no substantial long-term effect on her daily activities” and argued her account was “not credible” and she had “exaggerated her evidence”.

However, the tribunal judge disagreed and found Mrs Whitehouse “does have a disability as defined by section six of the Equality Act” and “struggles through the day”.

“She loves her job but then has difficulties when she stops to sit down and when she gets home in the evening,” the judge said.