Mr K C’tunge v Fabric Life Ltd — 2020

Mr K C’tunge’s ET1 alleged broad bullying, stalking and slander, and he later sought to amend the claim to add discrimination and whistleblowing allegations. In the amended document he identified age, race, sexual orientation and belief allegations, added a disability discrimination section, and included a whistleblowing section. At the preliminary hearing the tribunal allowed only the age and sexual-orientation allegations in A6, A9/D5 and A15 to proceed, subject to further and better particulars; the remaining allegations were not allowed because they were wide-ranging, unspecific, and not linked to protected characteristics, with the disability claim said to be new and out of time and the whistleblowing claim lacking any identified protected disclosure or detriment.

The tribunal noted that when asked at the hearing to explain the belief relied on, the claimant mentioned being a Brexit supporter, but there was no record of that point having been raised earlier. It also recorded that the claimant’s broader narrative focused on rumours, persecution and treatment by people and bodies outside the employment relationship, rather than on a discrete Equality Act complaint.

On the respondent’s strikeout application, Employment Judge Davidson held that the claimant’s real complaint had no stand-alone claim in law and that, even taking the case at its highest, the permitted allegations lacked the particulars needed to show a viable discrimination case or to identify a comparator. The tribunal found that the claims had no reasonable prospect of success and ordered them struck out at the preliminary hearing on 10 January 2023.