Ms Jabeen Haque v Mitie Care and Custody Limited — 2022

At an open preliminary hearing, the Tribunal considered disability status, limitation issues for Equality Act claims, and an application to amend. It found that the Claimant had anxiety and depression amounting to a mental impairment and that, from June 2019 to April 2020, the impairment had a substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities, applying the statutory provisions on treatment measures and recurrence.

The Tribunal held that it was just and equitable to extend time for the disability discrimination complaints. It accepted that the Claimant's ill health substantially affected her ability to raise those complaints until 25 November 2019, and that the disciplinary process after her return to work explained further delay. The disability complaints, including discrimination arising from disability and failure to make reasonable adjustments, were therefore permitted to proceed.

The complaints of race, religion and sex discrimination, pleaded as direct discrimination or harassment, were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. The alleged acts were found to have occurred substantially outside the primary limitation period, the Tribunal did not accept that the delay was caused by duress, and it considered that the Respondent would be significantly prejudiced by having to deal with those historic complaints. The application to amend the claim to rely on dismissal as an act of race, religion and sex discrimination was refused as a substantial, out-of-time alteration for which no credible explanation for the delay had been given.