In person, assisted by his wife v Respondent — 2021

The claimant presented his claim on 20 May 2020. The tribunal noted that the unfair dismissal and breach of contract complaints were presented within time, but the Equality Act complaints were not. The age discrimination allegations concerned the 'Gateway' system between May 2015 and July 2017, with later grievance matters ending in January 2019. The disability discrimination allegations mainly arose from 2017 and 2018, with one later complaint about the use of the word 'inefficiency' in November 2019.

Applying section 123 Equality Act 2010 and the authorities it cited, including Adedeji v University College Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust and Robertson v Bexley Community Centre, the tribunal found the delay to be substantial. The age discrimination complaint was over a year late and the disability complaint was around three months late. The claimant said he did not know about the time limit, preferred not to litigate, wanted to use internal procedures, and had mental health difficulties. The tribunal accepted those reasons were understandable, but found they did not amount to a compelling basis for extending time, noting that any lack of knowledge was not reasonable and that he had been able to present the claim by February 2020.

The tribunal also found that extending time would prejudice the respondent, given that the relevant events were several years old, while the claimant would still have live complaints of unfair dismissal and breach of contract. It therefore held that it would not be just and equitable to extend time and struck out the Equality Act complaints for lack of jurisdiction. The judge also rejected any different treatment for the November 2019 'inefficiency' point, saying it remained out of time and that there was no evidence of a connection to disability. The disability question itself did not need to be decided, although the tribunal noted the respondent had made no submission on disability for 2018 and 2019.