In person For the v Respondent — 2018

At the preliminary hearing in Leeds, the tribunal recorded that the Claimant withdrew, and the tribunal dismissed on withdrawal, the allegations of unfair dismissal for trade union reasons, detriment on trade union grounds, sexual orientation discrimination, public interest disclosure detriment during employment, and unfair dismissal for public interest disclosure detriment during employment. No monetary remedy was awarded.

The tribunal held that the breach of contract allegations in claim nos. 1801044/2014, 1802149/2017 and 1802390/2018 were presented outside the statutory time limit. It found that the Claimant was aware of his rights and the three-month limit, accepted that he had some poor mental health and was homeless for a period after resignation, but noted that he remained able to correspond clearly and had already presented three claims, so it would have been reasonably practicable to include breach of contract earlier.

For the post-termination public interest disclosure detriment allegations, the tribunal accepted that some material may only have come to the Claimant through the subject access request in September 2015, but it held that a further two-month delay before presenting a claim was not a further reasonable period. The remaining post-termination allegations were also out of time because there was no evidence explaining the delay. One allegation concerning a 10 July 2013 email between Mr McKernaghan and the respondent's legal advisers was struck out under Rule 37(1)(a) because the tribunal found it was protected by legal advice privilege and litigation privilege and therefore had no reasonable prospect of success.