(1) Dr Hamza Mazhar (2) Dr Yusuf Hussain v Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust — 2022

At a preliminary hearing on 24 November 2022 before Employment Judge Legard sitting alone, Dr Hamza Mazhar and Dr Yusuf Hussain brought complaints against Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust alleging direct race discrimination, direct sex discrimination and harassment arising from events beginning on 2 July 2021. The tribunal said it was not deciding the merits at that stage and restricted its findings to the limitation issue.

The tribunal found that the primary three-month time limit under s.123 EqA 2010 expired at midnight on 5 October 2021, so the claim form received on 13 March 2022 was out of time by about five months. ACAS early conciliation ran from 5 January 2022 to 15 February 2022, but that did not bring the claims within the primary time limit. The claimants had raised an informal grievance in July 2021, then a formal grievance, and Mrs Lacey's investigation report was dated 15 December 2021 and issued on 23 December 2021.

Applying the just and equitable test, the tribunal held that time should be extended. It accepted that the claimants had deliberately awaited the outcome of the internal grievance process because the Trust's policies encouraged that route, that the Trust was responsible for the delay in completing the investigation, and that some matters relied on in the claim only emerged from the investigation report, including the email to divisional leaders and Infection Control, the description 'tall, dark and coloured', and the alleged implication that the claimants were a threat to young women. The tribunal found no material prejudice to the respondent beyond the ordinary burden of defending the case and allowed the race discrimination, sex discrimination and harassment complaints to proceed to a full hearing.