Ms J Wilkinson v Cleveland Fire Authority — 2024

Ms J Wilkinson brought sex discrimination proceedings against Cleveland Fire Authority arising from events on 15 and 16 February 2022 and the later grievance process. The tribunal noted that the claimant had already brought earlier Employment Tribunal proceedings, case 2500877/2022, which focused on different dates, and that those earlier proceedings had resulted in findings of unlawful sex discrimination in her favour.

In this case, the tribunal held that the current allegations could and should have been raised in the first proceedings. It found that there was no impediment preventing the claimant from including them, that she had legal advice and assistance during the relevant period, and that she could have sought to amend the earlier claim at any stage up to the January 2023 final hearing. The tribunal was not persuaded by her explanation that she only later discovered material facts.

The tribunal accepted the respondent's submission that the later claim was caught by res judicata, including cause of action estoppel, issue estoppel, and the rule in Henderson v Henderson. It found that the respondent would be prejudiced by having to answer allegations that should have been litigated earlier, including because some relevant witnesses had not been called in the first case. The tribunal also noted that the foundation of the claims was the February 2022 conduct, which was out of time in any event, with ACAS early conciliation said to have needed to start no later than 16 May 2022.

The result was that all of the claimant's claims of unlawful sex discrimination were struck out and dismissed. The tribunal stated that it did not have jurisdiction to hear those claims because of the res judicata principles, and no remedy was awarded.