in person For the v Respondent — 2020

Mr R Jain was engaged through Medecho as a locum consultant psychiatrist for the Trust from 4 April 2018 on an intended one-month fixed-term engagement at an hourly rate of £100. The tribunal found that no written contract or statement of terms was given at the start, and that he was summarily dismissed on 6 April 2018 after the Trust carried out checks and became aware of GMC and Medical Practise Tribunal proceedings. A fixed-term worker contract was generated internally on 30 October 2018, after the dismissal, and it reflected an end date of 6 April 2018 rather than the original one-month arrangement.

On the preliminary issues, the tribunal rejected the Trust's strike-out application because the engagement was treated as a fixed-term contract and there were no agreed terms permitting termination before expiry, so the claimant had a prima facie contractual claim for early termination. The tribunal also accepted that confusion about who employed him, together with his medical condition, meant it had not been reasonably practicable for him to bring the claim against the Trust within the original time limit.

However, the tribunal held that the claim against the Trust was still out of time under Article 7 of the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (E&W) Order 1994. It found that by early November 2018 the claimant was on notice that the Trust might be the correct respondent, after receiving a payslip and P45, and that he should have taken prompt action then rather than waiting until February 2019 to apply to add the Trust. No early conciliation had been done against the Trust, and the tribunal held that there were no grounds to extend time. The proceedings against the second respondent were therefore dismissed and no remedy was awarded.