Mr L Zdroana v PMP Recruitment Limited (in administration) — 2020

The claimant brought a claim form complaining of unfair dismissal. The form also referred to "gas lighting- false accusation under sexual harassment", but the tribunal treated this as part of the claimant's account that an allegedly incorrect allegation by a colleague had caused his dismissal, rather than as a separate cause of action.

The tribunal applied the two-year service requirement under section 108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and found that the claimant had been employed for less than two years, so he was not entitled to bring an unfair dismissal complaint. The claimant was warned of possible strike out and given opportunities to explain why the complaint should not be struck out, but the tribunal found that his correspondence did not address the issue.

The judge noted that the claimant had referred in a telephone call to discrimination on grounds of sex, but no such claim was included in the claim form, no application to amend had been made, and the pleaded facts did not explain how the alleged untrue sexual harassment allegation necessarily amounted to sex discrimination. The strike out of the unfair dismissal complaint brought the claim to a conclusion.