CHALLENGING MENTAL HEALTH DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT GRAEME LOCKWOOD CLAIRE HENDERSON GRAHAM THORNICROFT King’s College London ABSTRACT This article presents findings on mental health litigation brought to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Britain between 2005 and 2012. The data are presented in five main sections: (i) types of discrimination claims made; (ii) number of additional legal claims brought; (iii) categories of persons who bring cases to court; (iv) nature of disability claims subject to legal action; and (v) bases for appeal in EAT cases. The main focus of the study is to identify factors that influence the success or failure of legal action in order to help inform potential litigants as to how to construct a successful appeal. INTRODUCTION The incidence of mental health discrimination (MHD) in the workplace has been established in empirical accounts of employee experience and via complaints to employment tribunals (Biggs et al., 2010; Brohan et al., 2012; Campbell, 1995; Doyle, 1996; Hurstfield et al., 2004; Leverton, 2002; Sayce & Boardman, 2008; Stansfeld et al., 2011). In the United Kingdom it is estimated that people with severe mental illnesses have an unemployment rate in the range of 61–73%. There 137 Ó 2014, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/WR.17.2.b http://baywood.com J. WORKPLACE RIGHTS, Vol. 17(2) 137-152, 2013-2014