Dr M Egyed v Totally plc — 2024

Dr M Egyed brought disability and race discrimination claims against Totally plc and sought to amend the case to add a breach of contract claim. The tribunal first considered whether Totally plc was the correct respondent, whether Vocare Limited should be joined instead, and whether any of the claims had reasonable prospects of success.

On the evidence, the claimant had written contracts with Vocare Limited, invoiced and was paid by Vocare, and wore name badges referring to Vocare or Totally Urgent Care rather than Totally plc. The judge found that the May 2023 permanent employment application was made to Totally Group / Totally Urgent Care, not to Totally plc, and that the offer of employment came from Vocare Limited. The recruitment, vetting, ID checks and withdrawal of the offer were all found to have been handled by Vocare employees.

The tribunal held there was no contract between the claimant and Totally plc, no worker or employee relationship with that respondent under the Equality Act 2010, and no agency relationship by which Vocare’s acts could be attributed to Totally plc. It therefore found that the claimant was not an applicant to Totally plc within section 39 of the Equality Act 2010 and could not pursue the discrimination claims against that respondent. The proposed breach of contract amendment also failed because there was no common-law employment contract with Totally plc.

Because the claimant did not want Vocare Limited joined as a respondent, the tribunal declined to add it of its own motion. It struck out the claims under rule 37(1)(a) as having no reasonable prospect of success, and no remedy or award was made.