Miss N Kumari v Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust — 2020

The claimant brought claims of unfair dismissal and race discrimination, including harassment, against her former employer. The preliminary hearing considered whether the tribunal had jurisdiction because of the date on which the claim was presented. The claimant had resigned in around May 2019, worked a notice period, contacted ACAS on 16 January 2020, and presented her claim on 27 January 2020.

For unfair dismissal, the tribunal found that it had been reasonably practicable for the claimant to present the claim in time. It found there was no real evidence of anything that would have prevented her from taking the same steps in summer 2019 as she later took after contacting Citizens Advice and ACAS. The tribunal therefore held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the unfair dismissal claim.

For race discrimination, the tribunal considered alleged pre-termination conduct, the claimant's termination, and an incident involving a former colleague on 7 or 8 October 2019 as potentially linked for preliminary purposes. Even on that basis, early conciliation should have started by 6 or 7 January 2020 and did not start until 16 January 2020. The tribunal declined to extend time, noting the short delay but also finding the claim appeared very weak, that the link to race was difficult to discern, and that the respondent would face prejudice in responding to older, largely verbal allegations.

The tribunal found no link between those alleged acts and a letter received from Ms Press on 9 December 2019. Because that allegation was not included in the original claim, it would require an amendment. Applying the Selkent balance of hardship, the tribunal refused permission to amend and dismissed the claim in its entirety.