Mr Thomas Norman v Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited — 2021

The preliminary issue was whether Mr Norman's complaints had been brought in time. The tribunal identified the claims in the ET1 as direct race discrimination, race-related harassment, victimisation, and detriment for making protected disclosures. It treated the first claim form, presented on 11 May 2020, as the operative claim, despite a later resubmitted form that anonymised a name.

The tribunal found that only two of the alleged in-time matters had been raised in the ET1: receiving the outcome of the second grievance on 16 February 2020 and attending a grievance meeting on 3 March 2020. It held that having to recount experiences by raising or pursuing a grievance was not itself a detriment, and that an unwelcome grievance outcome or delay in grievance handling did not make earlier alleged discrimination a continuing act.

For the Equality Act claims, the tribunal considered whether to extend time on just and equitable grounds. It took account of the length of delay, the reasons given, and prejudice to the respondent, including that many staff involved were no longer employed after redundancies. It declined to extend time. For the whistleblowing detriment claim, it applied the stricter reasonably practicable test and found that lack of knowledge of time limits was not sufficient on the facts.

The tribunal also considered, for completeness, whether later allegations in the claimant's further information should be allowed as amendments. It found those allegations raised new factual matters, including sexual harassment, furlough and redundancy process issues, and declined to allow them. The claim was dismissed.