Lamis Abuhaloob v Imperial College Of Science, Technology And Medicine — 2024

This was a public preliminary hearing before Tribunal Judge Peer (sitting as an Employment Judge) at London Central (CVP) on 21 March 2025, to consider whether the claimant's complaints should be struck out as having no reasonable prospect of success or, alternatively, be made subject to deposit orders. The claimant, a former research associate on a fixed-term contract with Imperial College from 19 June 2023 until termination on 18 March 2024, brought complaints of direct race discrimination, direct age discrimination, less favourable treatment due to fixed-term employee status, and a whistleblowing complaint. She appeared in person, assisted intermittently by an Arabic interpreter.

The Tribunal found that the further and better particulars provided by the claimant did not establish the necessary legal components of her claims. In respect of the alleged protected disclosures, the Tribunal concluded that it was unclear what information had been disclosed, when, to whom, and why the claimant believed any disclosure was in the public interest, and that material expanding on the allegations had been provided well outside the ordinary three-month time limit with no explanation of why earlier provision was not reasonably practicable.

Accordingly, all four complaints were struck out under rule 38(1)(a) of the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024 and the claim was struck out in its entirety. The claimant was also refused permission to amend her claim, the Tribunal having considered the Selkent principles and declined to exercise its discretion to permit the amendments.