Ms M Desantos v Abellio London Limited — 2020

The claimant was dismissed with immediate effect on 23 September 2019. Early conciliation was notified on 11 December 2019 and the claim was presented on 9 March 2020. The claimant did not attend the preliminary hearing, had not complied with earlier orders to provide further particulars or a witness statement on limitation, and had made no submissions explaining why the claims were late.

The tribunal found that the unfair dismissal and holiday pay claims were out of time. Applying the burden on the claimant to show that presenting those claims in time was not reasonably practicable, and in the absence of evidence from her, those claims were struck out. The harassment claim said to arise from the appeal hearing on 29 October 2019 was also out of time, and the tribunal found no basis on which it would be just and equitable to extend time.

The tribunal found that the discrimination and victimisation claims based on the alleged delay in providing the appeal outcome on 11 December 2019 and the alleged failure to provide appeal minutes were within time. It nevertheless considered those claims to have little reasonable prospects of success: the claim form did not identify an earlier protected act for victimisation before the claim was brought, the respondent stated that appeal minutes had been provided, and the direct discrimination allegation was unparticularised with no comparator or explanation of why the alleged delay was because of sex. A £1,000 deposit order was made as a condition of continuing those claims.