In Person For the v Respondent — 2020

By judgment dated 31 July 2020, Employment Judge Balogun struck out all claims on a preliminary issue because they had no reasonable prospect of success. The hearing was convened to deal with jurisdiction, strike out, and the alternative question of a deposit order, but the claimant’s claim remained insufficiently clarified despite earlier case management directions and further targeted questions from the respondent.

The tribunal held that several matters listed in the draft issues were outside its primary jurisdiction, and that it had no jurisdiction over a free-standing claim for breach of the ACAS code of practice. It also held that the claimant could not bring a constructive unfair dismissal claim because he had been employed from 4 September 2017 to 18 September 2018 and therefore lacked the two years’ continuous service required by s.108 ERA 1996.

On the protected disclosure allegation, the claimant said he reported to Mr Charley in September 2017 that Mr Noor Mohamed had called the principal of the college a "dickhead" and a "fucker". The tribunal considered that he would face an uphill struggle showing that there was a legal obligation disclosed and that he reasonably believed the disclosure was in the public interest, so the claim had no reasonable prospect of success under s.43B(1) ERA 1996. The breach of contract claim also failed because the handbook policies relied on were either expressly non-contractual or did not confer contractual rights, and the claimant had not identified proper particulars of breach or any recoverable loss.

The Equality Act claims were direct race discrimination, harassment and victimisation. The claimant said he was black and alleged that in September 2017 Mr Noor Mohamed told him he did not like black people because they are lazy, and that when he reported the matter to Mr Charley no action was taken. The tribunal held that these claims were presented out of time under s.123 Equality Act 2010, and that there was no basis to extend time on just and equitable grounds. It therefore struck out all claims.