Mr I. Maheshe v West Midlands Travel Ltd t/a National Express West Midlands — 2020

Mr I. Maheshe brought claims of direct race discrimination and harassment arising from an incident on 18 September 2018 on a staff bus. The tribunal recorded his account that he was asked to leave the bus, assaulted, and not supported by management, and that he later raised a grievance through his union on 2 November 2018. The tribunal did not determine the factual merits of those allegations because it found the original complaint was presented outside the three-month limit in s123 Equality Act 2010.

The tribunal found that ACAS early conciliation began on 19 February 2019 and that the ET1 presented on 21 February 2019 was about 66 or 67 days late. It refused to extend time on the just and equitable basis. In doing so, it relied on the claimant's awareness of the facts, his Equality Act rights, and the tribunal time limit by November 2018, together with the fact that he had trade union support and identified no obstacle that prevented a timely claim. It also noted that the delay would affect the cogency of the evidence.

The claimant also sought to amend the claim to allege discrimination in the respondent's handling of the investigation into the 18 September 2018 incident and the handling of his grievance, including the grievance outcome on 14 February 2019 and the investigation outcome on 27 November 2018. Applying Selkent, the tribunal held that these were substantial new factual allegations and not mere particulars of the original claim. It refused permission to amend because the new allegations were out of time and the balance of hardship favoured the respondent. The claim was therefore dismissed and no remedy was awarded.