Mr Lieper QC, counsel For the v Respondent — 2017

The claimant presented her claim on 27 January 2017 naming Unilever de Centroamerica SA de CV, Unilever plc and Unilever UK Central Resources Limited. The pleaded claims were unfair dismissal under sections 98 and 103A of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and detriment on the ground that she had made protected disclosures. On 3 February 2017 the claims against the first and third respondents were rejected because no ACAS early conciliation certificate had been provided for them, and the claimant then applied either for reconsideration or for amendment to join those respondents.

Employment Judge Frances Spencer treated the application as one for joinder under rule 34 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013. Applying the Selkent approach and the authorities cited, including Drake International Systems Ltd v Blue Arrow Ltd, Science Warehouse Ltd v Mills and Mist v Derby Community Health Services NHS Trust, the tribunal held that there were justiciable issues between the parties, that joinder would not amount to abuse of process, and that the balance of hardship and justice favoured the claimant. The tribunal noted that the respondents were part of the same group and that Unilever plc had already been contacted through the ACAS process.

The application succeeded and Unilever de Centroamerica SA de CV and Unilever UK Central Resources Limited were joined as additional respondents. No substantive determination was made on the unfair dismissal or protected disclosure claims, and no remedy was awarded at this stage.