Case 2600111/2023 · Employment Tribunal
Ms R M Howell v The Secretary of State for Justice — 2023
- Case reference
- 2600111/2023
- Decision date
- 8 April 2023
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Brewer Representation
- Venue
- Midlands East Tribunal via Cloud Video Platform
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Ms R M Howell
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe preliminary hearing considered jurisdiction for the unfair dismissal claim, whether all claims were presented in time, and whether the claimant had sufficient service for unfair dismissal. The tribunal found that the claimant was employed by Belmont and was contracted to work at HMP Nottingham; she was not employed by the prison or by the Secretary of State for Justice.
On unfair dismissal, the tribunal held that only employees or former employees can bring such claims under the Employment Rights Act 1996. As the claimant was not employed by the respondent, the unfair dismissal claim could not proceed and was struck out.
For the sex and race discrimination claims, the tribunal found that the relevant incident occurred on 22 July 2022, early conciliation extended the deadline to 18 December 2022, and the claim was presented on 20 December 2022. The tribunal noted the claimant had provided no evidence explaining the delay and was not persuaded that it was just and equitable to extend time, so the discrimination claims were dismissed.
Claims and outcomes
3 findings recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unfair dismissal | The tribunal found the claimant was employed by Belmont, not by the respondent, and could not bring an unfair dismissal claim against the respondent under the Employment Rights Act 1996. The judgment states the unfair dismissal claim was struck out. | Struck out | — | — |
| Sex discrimination | The claim was presented two days out of time and the tribunal declined to extend time on just and equitable grounds. | Dismissed | Sex | — |
| Race discrimination | The claim was presented two days out of time and the tribunal declined to extend time on just and equitable grounds. | Dismissed | Race | — |
Legal tests applied
11 references- section 94 Employment Rights Act 1996
- section 108 Employment Rights Act 1996
- section 140B Equality Act 2010
- section 123(1)(b) Equality Act 2010
- Robertson v Bexley Community Centre t/a Leisure Link
- Pathan v South London Islamic Centre
- Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police v Caston
- British Coal Corporation v Keeble
- section 33 Limitation Act 1980
- Adedeji v University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
- Secretary of State for Justice v Johnson
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
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