Miss Clare Maguire v Ministry of Justice PRELIMINARY HEARING — 2023

At a preliminary hearing on 24 October 2023 before Employment Judge C H O’Rourke, the claimant’s application to amend was partially granted. The amendment connected with the failure to make reasonable adjustments claim was allowed, while the proposed amendments to add direct sex discrimination and harassment on grounds of sex were refused.

On the reasonable adjustments point, the tribunal accepted that adding a reference to 'recourse to Band D staff' was a factual detail to an existing allegation rather than a new claim. It considered that the respondent would only need a minor amendment to its Response and that the evidential burden would not be materially increased, so the balance of injustice and hardship favoured permitting that amendment.

The proposed sex discrimination and harassment amendments were treated as entirely new allegations. The tribunal noted that the direct discrimination allegations related to June 2021 incidents and the harassment allegations to March 2022, that the application was considerably out of time, and that no sufficient basis was shown to extend time. It also noted that the claimant already had existing claims including direct disability discrimination, direct sex discrimination, harassment related to sex, discrimination arising from disability, and failure to make reasonable adjustments, so refusing the further amendments was proportionate under Rule 2.