Ms Y Ameyaw v Pricewaterhousecoopers Services Limited — 2023

The claimant did not attend the open preliminary hearing, and the tribunal proceeded under Rule 47 after being satisfied that she had notice of the hearing and had chosen not to take part. The respondent's application was for strike out under Rule 37, and the tribunal also considered whether any surviving claims would be out of time or otherwise capable of proceeding.

The tribunal struck out the allegations that the respondent had discriminated against the claimant on grounds of race and sex by way of conduct in earlier litigation. It held that those complaints were protected by absolute immunity from suit and therefore had no reasonable prospect of success. In reaching that conclusion, the tribunal referred to earlier decisions in the long-running litigation between the parties and to the principles of res judicata and Henderson v Henderson.

The tribunal also dealt with the claimant's complaints about her 2017 dismissal, including the contention that the dismissal was null and void and that salary was owed. The operative judgment dismissed those matters as out of time, and the reasons explained that they were either already determined in earlier proceedings or should have been raised then, and would in any event have faced the same time-limit problem. Separate complaints framed as fraud, human rights, reputational damage and damage to employability were dismissed because the Employment Tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear them.

No claim survived the judgment and no monetary remedy was awarded.