Mr S Thompson v Tesco Stores Limited Heard: Remotely by video — 2021

Mr S Thompson, employed by Tesco Stores Limited since 10 August 2012 as a Checkout Customer Assistant, relied on an incident on 23 August 2020 and brought claims of direct disability discrimination and harassment related to disability. The tribunal found that the relevant time limit expired on 21 January 2021 after account was taken of ACAS early conciliation, and that the ET1 was not presented until 9 May 2021, so the claims were out of time under section 123 of the Equality Act 2010.

The tribunal then considered whether it was just and equitable to extend time. It accepted that Mr Thompson knew he had potential discrimination claims and knew there was a time limit. It found he raised the incident with a line manager the next day and later used the respondent's grievance process, which undermined his case that he was too stressed to present the claim in time. The tribunal also gave limited weight to Dr Tony Pegrum's letter because it did not address why the ET1 could not be submitted on time.

Applying the authorities it identified, including Robertson v Bexley Community Centre, Abertawe Morgannwg University Local Health Board v Morgan, Adedeji v University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, British Coal Corporation v Keeble and London Borough of Southwark v Afolabi, the tribunal weighed the length and reasons for the delay, the promptness of the claimant's actions, the merits, and prejudice to the parties. It found the delay was more than four months, the claimant had not shown that anxiety prevented timely presentation, and the balance of prejudice favoured the respondent.

The tribunal therefore held that it was not just and equitable to extend time and struck out both claims for want of jurisdiction. Because the claims were not in time, no findings were made on whether Mr Thompson was disabled under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010.