Mr David Cope v Asda Stores Limited RECORD OF AN PUBLIC PRELIMINARY HEARING — 2024

At a public preliminary hearing in Birmingham on 18 September 2024, the tribunal considered whether Mr David Cope's s.15 Equality Act 2010 claim against Asda Stores Ltd had been presented in time. The claim form was presented on 23 August 2023, with early conciliation running from 26 July 2023 to 31 July 2023. The tribunal recorded that the claim concerned a first written warning issued on 15 September 2022, upheld on appeal on 6 October 2022, and upheld again after an ethics complaint on 2 March 2023. On the tribunal's timetable, complaints about matters before 26 April 2023 might not have been in time.

The tribunal found that the claim had not been presented within the applicable time limit, but that it was just and equitable to extend time under section 123 of the Equality Act 2010. It distinguished the claimant's position from Miss N Khaliq v Secretary of State for Justice and Ors [2022] on the basis that the delay was not significant and the claimant was not aware that he was out of time. It also accepted the claimant's evidence that he had relied on advice from his union and had followed the grievance process and then the ethics complaint process before issuing proceedings.

The tribunal further found that prejudice to the respondent was limited because Asda had been aware of the claimant's concerns about discrimination since September 2022, and because a 54-day delay would not affect the notes and reports in evidence. The claim of discrimination arising from disability was therefore allowed to proceed, but no finding was made on the substantive merits of that claim at this hearing.