Mr S Zerehannes v Asda Stores Limited PRELIMINARY HEARING — 2019

At this preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Camp sitting alone, the tribunal dealt with the respondent's deposit-order application and the claimant's remaining discrimination complaints. All complaints of discriminatory harassment and of indirect discrimination were dismissed by consent upon withdrawal.

The tribunal then considered the claimant's remaining associative direct disability discrimination complaint, which was described as the claimant's only remaining disability discrimination claim and as comprising the series of complaints numbered 1 to 6 in the Scott schedule. The judge said the central difficulty for the disability complaints was causation.

The tribunal was not satisfied that the associative direct disability discrimination claim had no reasonable prospects of success, but it was satisfied that it had little reasonable prospect of success. The judge said there was, at best, no proper basis on which the final tribunal could decide that any mistreatment of the claimant was because of the claimant's wife's disability.

A deposit order of £1,000 was therefore made as a condition of continuing to advance the associative direct disability discrimination complaint, with the judge noting that the claimant's ability to comply had been taken into account when fixing the amount.