Dr R Ibakakombo – Lay Representative For the v Mr T Gilbart - Counsel — 2020

The claimant presented the first claim on 24 April 2019 and a second claim on 7 February 2020. At the open preliminary hearing on 28 July 2020, the tribunal dealt with the respondent's late response to the second claim, the time-limit issues on the first claim, and the claimant's request to revisit matters that had previously been withdrawn. It accepted the respondent's evidence that the ET2 for the second claim had not been received and allowed time to be extended for the response to be lodged, applying Rule 18 and the overriding objective, with reference to Kwik Save Stores v Swain.

On the first claim, the tribunal held that the relevant time limit under section 123 Equality Act 2010 meant that acts before 12 November 2018 were potentially out of time. It found that allegations (i) to (ix) and (xvii), which related to matters between April 2014 and December 2015, and allegations (xx) to (xxii), concerning grievance handling at that time, were historical and had no sufficient link with the later in-time matters. It also held that allegations (xv) and (xvi) were out of time. The claimant's explanation that he had not brought proceedings earlier because he did not wish to ruin his career was not accepted, and the tribunal concluded that it would not be just and equitable to extend time for those matters.

The tribunal treated allegations (x) to (xiv) and (xxiii) as sufficiently close in time to the in-time allegations to be considered further at the final hearing, and noted that allegations (xviii), (xix) and (xxiv) to (xxxiv) were already within time. It also refused the claimant's application to revive allegations that had been withdrawn at the April hearing, stating that they had already come to an end. No substantive liability finding or monetary award was made in this judgment; the issues were redrafted with the out-of-time matters removed.