Mr T. Azam v IBM United Kingdom Limited — 2023

This was a preliminary hearing on the respondent's applications to strike out specified allegations or, alternatively, for deposit orders. The tribunal considered whether parts of claims 7 to 19 were an abuse of process, had no reasonable prospect of success, or had little reasonable prospect of success. The claimant's claims were described as including direct race or religion discrimination, failure to make reasonable adjustments, harassment related to disability and race, victimisation, and matters in claim 15 referring to race, disability, religion or belief, harassment, victimisation, indirect discrimination, and bullying.

The tribunal struck out a number of allegations. Some were struck out as an abuse of process because the same or closely related matters had been decided, or could and should have been raised, in the earlier proceedings before the Flood Tribunal. Other allegations were struck out because the documents relied on by the claimant did not support the alleged detriment, harassment, discrimination, or victimisation when read objectively. The tribunal found the struck-out allegations listed in the judgment were totally without merit.

The tribunal declined to strike out some allegations but found they had little reasonable prospect of success and ordered deposits by separate order. These included some promotion and pay-related allegations, claim 15, the allegation about delay in the 2021 checkpoint assessment, and the allegation that Ms Abel continued to ignore requests for promotion. The tribunal also recorded that the allegation in 3.2.4 concerning alleged failure to sanction Ryan Ward for swearing and talking over the claimant could proceed to final hearing.