Miss R Hammond v IG Doors Limited Heard: via telephone — 2020

At the telephone preliminary hearing on 22 July 2020, Employment Judge S Jenkins considered the claimant's application to amend her claim and the respondent's application for a deposit order. The original claim form, presented on 12 February 2020, had already raised pregnancy and maternity discrimination and whistleblowing detriment, and the later further and better particulars sought to add section 27 EqA victimisation, additional protected disclosures, two further detriments, and claims for unlawful deductions from wages and breach of contract.

Applying Cocking and Selkent, the tribunal refused permission to add victimisation under section 27 EqA because it was a new, out-of-time head of claim that had not been included in the original form. The tribunal also refused the attempt to add additional protected disclosures under section 47B ERA, and excluded the section 47C references that sought to introduce further pregnancy and maternity-related matters. By contrast, the two additional detriments at sub-paragraphs (g) and (h) were allowed, and the complaints about sick pay and training fees were treated as relabelling and allowed to proceed as unlawful deduction from wages and breach of contract points.

The respondent's application for a deposit order was refused under Rule 39. The judge referred to Van Rensburg and Hemdan, and said the tribunal should not conduct a mini-trial of the facts at this stage. The factual disputes about the whistleblowing, pregnancy and maternity, sick pay, and training fee issues were left for a full merits hearing, and the refusal of the deposit order was not treated as a view on the ultimate prospects of the claims.