Ms J Breyal v Blaby District Council — 2023

Ms J Breyal worked as a Youth Leader and her employment ended by redundancy on 4 March 2022. After earlier case management hearings before Employment Judges Blackwell and Cansick, Employment Judge Broughton heard the respondent's open preliminary hearing on 18 April 2023. The claimant was unrepresented, no hearing bundle had been prepared, and the tribunal examined the claimant's revised particulars in order to decide the respondent's applications to strike out and/or for a deposit order.

The tribunal refused to strike out the direct discrimination complaints on race and sex and also refused a deposit order. Taking the claimant's case at its highest, the judge held that her account of assurances that she would have priority for alternative roles, followed by a competitive process with external candidates, the way the Building Control Officer and Team Leader Economics and Community Development posts were handled, and the alleged comments made during the process, could provide the minimum 'something more' needed to support a prima facie inference of discrimination under section 136 EqA 2010. The judge said the factual disputes should be tested at a final hearing.

By contrast, the indirect discrimination claims were struck out in their entirety. The tribunal held that, even after earlier orders for further particulars and the hearing itself, the claimant still could not explain the relevant PCPs in terms of women or persons in her racial group being placed at a particular disadvantage compared with others, so the claims did not fit the section 19 EqA 2010 framework. On victimisation, allegations 1.1 and 2 were struck out because they remained too vague and the protected acts were not adequately identified. Allegations 1:2, 3 and 4 were not struck out, but the tribunal made an Unless Order requiring the claimant to set out the protected acts relied on more clearly. No monetary remedy was ordered at this preliminary stage.