Mr R L Molyneux v Royal Mail Group Limited — 2020

The preliminary hearing considered whether the Claimant's complaints had been presented in time and, if not, whether time should be extended. The Claimant alleged direct race discrimination and harassment related to race arising from matters including overtime recording and payment, handling of a work accident and return to work, Stage 1 absence notices, and the handling of grievances. He also brought an unauthorised deductions from wages complaint concerning unpaid overtime between 30 September 2016 and 3 December 2016.

For the Equality Act complaints, the Tribunal found no prima facie case of a continuing discriminatory act ending on or after 26 March 2018. The Tribunal noted that the Claimant relied on the grievance process as the link between the matters, but had not given sufficient particulars of discriminatory failings in that process, had not complained of race discrimination in the grievances, and had not explained how the pleaded matters related to race. The Tribunal declined to extend time on just and equitable grounds, taking into account the length of delay, the Claimant's knowledge of the complaints by July 2017 at the latest, the limited explanation for delay, and prejudice to the Respondent in defending older allegations.

For the wages complaint, the Tribunal found that the Claimant knew the basis of the claim in December 2016 and that pursuing an internal grievance did not prevent him bringing a claim within the primary time limit. It was not shown that it had been not reasonably practicable to present the claim in time, so the Tribunal dismissed the complaint for want of jurisdiction.