Miss J Cammish v The Secretary of State for Justice — 2020

This was a preliminary hearing concerning the respondent's application to strike out the claimant's post-2017 victimisation allegations. The claimant's grievance about alleged disability discrimination was accepted as a protected act. The Tribunal considered whether the claimant had a reasonable prospect of showing that delays and decisions in the Civil Service Injury Benefit/Injury at Work process were because of that protected act.

The Tribunal found that most of the challenged matters had no reasonable prospect of success as victimisation claims. It found that the refusal of the IAW application and appeal was based on medical advice that the claimant did not meet the scheme criteria, and that delays after August 2017 were largely attributable to external bodies or were not supported by evidence of a link to the grievance. It also found no basis for treating the appointment of Julie Collins as decision-maker as unfavourable treatment or as evidence of victimisation.

The Tribunal did not strike out the limited allegations that Joanne Town caused or contributed to delay in processing the IAW application between August 2016 and August 2017. It considered that, because Joanne Town had heard the grievance and had been challenged by the claimant and her representative, there might be enough to raise a prima facie case, although the Tribunal considered those remaining allegations had little reasonable prospect of success and was considering a deposit order. Issues about limitation, any just and equitable extension, and the pre-2017 allegations were left for a further preliminary hearing.