Ms H Grindley v Coppersun Dental Care Ltd — 2021

This was a preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Ward on 27 August 2020. The tribunal considered the claimant's application to amend the claim, rather than the merits of the underlying employment complaints. It held that the further and better particulars were in substance an amendment, because facts in the original claim form were being relabelled as direct discrimination or discrimination arising from claims.

Applying the amendment power under Rule 29 and the overriding objective, and taking account of Selkent Bus Co Ltd v Moore and Cocking v Sandhurst (Stationers) Ltd and anor, the tribunal decided that the claims could be gleaned from the original claim form, which had been prepared when the claimant was a litigant in person. It found the amendment was essentially a relabelling exercise and that there was no greater injustice or hardship to the respondent, whereas refusing amendment would prevent the claimant pursuing pre- and post-dismissal claims that were factually included in the original claim. The application to amend was therefore granted. No substantive findings on liability or remedy were made in this judgment.