Miss K Blake v Infosys BPM Limited — 2021

The claimant presented complaints of race discrimination, unfair constructive dismissal and breach of contract on 20 July 2020. At the hearing she confirmed that she was not pursuing indirect race discrimination, so that part of the case was treated as withdrawn. The tribunal recorded that her employment began on 20 May 2019 and ended on 5 December 2019, and that the relevant complaints arose during that employment, with the last alleged discriminatory act said to be on 28 November 2019.

The unfair dismissal complaint was dismissed because the claimant had less than two years' continuous employment and none of the statutory exceptions to the qualifying period in s.108 ERA 1996 applied. The tribunal found that the claim form did not disclose any basis for automatic unfair dismissal, so she was not entitled to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim.

The race discrimination and race-related harassment complaints were dismissed as out of time. The tribunal found that the primary limitation period expired on 27 February 2020, that ACAS early conciliation began on 11 June 2020, and that the claim form was presented on 20 July 2020. It accepted that the respondent had not progressed the grievance after the January 2020 meeting, but held that the claimant had not adequately explained why she took no steps between February and June 2020, and that the balance of prejudice did not justify extending time as just and equitable. The application to amend the claim to add further race discrimination, race-related harassment and victimisation allegations was refused because the proposed amendments were substantial, still unclear, and raised further out-of-time issues. No monetary award was made.