Mr P Bahad v HSBC Bank plc and 1 other — 2020

The claimant brought claims against HSBC Bank Plc and Resource Solutions Ltd after his HSBC assignment ended following changes connected with IR35 and the proposed move from his personal service company arrangement to employment by the agency. At the hearing, the claimant accepted that Resource Solutions Ltd had not discriminated against him, was not responsible for HSBC's alleged conduct, and was not the subject of any remedy sought; all claims against it were dismissed.

The tribunal struck out the religious discrimination and redundancy payment claims after the claimant accepted he could not identify a religion-related basis for the former and was not entitled to the latter. It dismissed the claimed Covid-19 furlough payment insofar as it attached to any claim, and dismissed money claims against HSBC after the claimant accepted HSBC had not paid him.

The tribunal also struck out the public interest disclosure claim, finding that the alleged disclosures post-dated or occurred during the notice period after the decision to end the assignment, and that the later non-selection for another HSBC role was speculative and had no real prospect of success as a whistleblowing detriment claim. The race discrimination claim was struck out because, taking the case at its highest, the tribunal found no reasonable prospect of establishing facts from which race discrimination could be found in either the ending of the role or non-selection for another role.