Mrs T Wills v The Salvation Army Trustee Company Heard — 2022

Employment Judge Hindmarch heard the respondent's strike out application at an open preliminary hearing on 29 July 2022 and reserved judgment to 15 September 2022. The ET1 had been presented on 7 March 2021 after ACAS early conciliation from 18 January 2021 to 25 February 2021, and the judge recorded repeated case management steps, requests for further particulars and an unless order because the claimant had not clearly identified the basis of her claims.

The judge held that the only in-time dismissal claim, ordinary unfair dismissal, had no reasonable prospect of success. By the date of dismissal the claimant had been absent from work for 33 months, occupational health reports had been obtained, the claimant agreed there was no adjustment that could facilitate a return to work and no redeployment opportunity was identified, and capability was capable of amounting to a fair reason for dismissal. On that basis the unfair dismissal claim was struck out.

The remaining disability discrimination, victimisation and protected-disclosure allegations were found to be out of time and inadequately pleaded. The judge noted that the claimant had known about time limits, including correspondence in June 2019 referring to a 1 July 2019 deadline, but did not contact ACAS until 18 January 2021. The tribunal also found that she had not identified the protected acts relied on, had not explained why the alleged disclosures were protected or qualifying, and had not connected the alleged disclosures to the detriments complained of. The disability claim was also problematic because the claimant relied on several conditions, while the respondent accepted only the back condition as a disability from the occupational health report of 27 October 2017. No monetary award was made because all claims were struck out.