In person For the v Respondent — 2017

This was an open preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Ayre sitting alone at London Central on 14 and 15 June 2017 to determine threshold issues in claims brought by Mr S Ibrahim, an Arabic-language interpreter engaged by HCA International Limited on its 'Bank'. The Tribunal found that the claimant was not an employee of the respondent: he had signed bank membership documentation stating there was no mutuality of obligation, he had selected 'Temporary Staff' rather than 'Employee' on a confidentiality agreement, and the wider factual matrix was consistent with worker rather than employee status (the respondent conceded worker status only).

The Tribunal held that the sex discrimination complaint, which related to an incident on 8 June 2014, was presented significantly out of time, and declined to extend time on a just and equitable basis given the length of the delay, the absence of a cogent explanation for it, and the prejudice to the respondent. It also found that the grievances of 15 and 22 March 2016 did not amount to protected disclosures: complaints about false rumours of breach of patient confidentiality were not disclosures of information tending to show a breach of a legal obligation or a miscarriage of justice, and in any event the disclosures were not made in the public interest but to clear the claimant's name.

The unlawful deduction from wages claim was struck out as having no reasonable prospects of success, there being no evidence that the respondent had withheld sums due. As the parties had agreed that adverse findings on these preliminary issues would leave no substantive issues outstanding, the claim was dismissed in its entirety.