Miss Linda Firth v The Department for Work and Pensions Heard: By CVP in Leeds — 2020

Miss Firth brought disability-related Equality Act complaints arising from a series of acts identified as Acts 1 to 10. The tribunal recorded that the claim form was presented on 8 October 2019, following early conciliation from 30 August 2019 to 10 September 2019, and that any complaint about something before 1 May 2019 was out of time unless a continuing act or a just and equitable extension applied.

The tribunal held that Acts 1 to 9 were not continuing acts. It found they were discrete events or decisions, at most giving rise to continuing consequences, and that the fact they were said to have been influenced by disability did not turn them into a continuing discriminatory regime. It rejected the submission that Ms Karen Morgan was a guiding force behind all of the matters, and noted that the acts involved different managers and different contexts, including one act that pre-dated the claimant’s transfer to DWP.

Act 10 concerned the submission made by Mr Woodstock on 6 June 2018 in support of the claimant’s injury leave application. The tribunal held that, for limitation purposes, time ran from the decision to make that submission rather than from the later MyCSP decision in May 2019 or the date when the claimant first saw the document in June 2019. It further found that the claimant had not shown a prima facie case that the submission itself was discriminatory and, in any event, the act was out of time.

On the question of extending time, the tribunal considered the claimant’s knowledge of tribunal time limits, her trade union and ACAS/Citizens Advice assistance, the end of her sickness absence on 30 July 2018, the absence of concealment, and the relative prejudice to both parties. It concluded that it was not just and equitable to extend time. The alleged discriminatory acts were struck out and the February 2021 final hearing was vacated.