Miss R Adegunle v N Brown Group plc and 1 other — 2020

At the preliminary hearing on 2 November 2020, Judge Brian Doyle, sitting alone, considered limitation and strike-out issues only; no witness evidence was taken. The claimant relied on anxiety as the relevant disability for her Equality Act 2010 harassment complaint, and the respondent accepted that disability was established for present purposes.

The tribunal held that the first group of 10 harassment allegations, covering conduct said to have occurred between April 2013 and December 2015, was out of time under section 123 of the Equality Act 2010. It found that there was a significant gap between that group and the later allegations, that the claimant had not given an adequate explanation for the delay, and that it was not just and equitable to extend time. The tribunal also noted that many of those matters had been investigated internally at the time and not upheld. Those complaints were therefore dismissed.

For the later group of allegations, the tribunal held that complaints 1 to 3 were also out of time and refused to extend time for them. It then held that complaints 4 to 8 were in time but suffered from the same general problems of vagueness, lack of detail, unclear connection to disability, and, in several instances, concern with third parties or events outside the workplace. The tribunal said that, if necessary, it would have struck those matters out as having no reasonable prospect of success or made them the subject of a deposit order.

The tribunal concluded that all of the Equality Act complaints could not proceed further, either because they were out of time or because they were misconceived or ill-judged. By contrast, the constructive unfair dismissal complaint remained live and was directed to proceed to a one-day final hearing. The tribunal noted that the harassment allegations might still be relevant as background to that dismissal claim.