Ms Mia Travers v Places for People Leisure Limited and 2 others — 2021

The claimant worked at Blackwater Leisure Centre from 18 May 2015 until 5 May 2019. Her claims concerned an incident on 18 December 2018, two earlier incidents involving G, the response by Shelley Abbot-Jones and Mark Taylor, and a later grievance appeal by Simon Churchman. The tribunal held that the Equality Act complaints were presented out of time by about five weeks, but it was just and equitable to hear them because the claimant waited for the grievance outcome, was signed off sick, and the respondent was not materially prejudiced.

The constructive dismissal claim failed. The tribunal did not accept the claimant's evidence that Abbot-Jones told her to forget about the matter, treated her as a little girl, or otherwise failed to support her. It found that Abbot-Jones escalated the complaint to Taylor, asked for a written statement, and said the matter would be investigated. The tribunal held that the claimant had not shown any fundamental breach of contract, had not established a cumulative last-straw case, and had not shown that resignation was in response to any breach rather than other factors.

The age discrimination claim also failed. The tribunal found no factual basis for concluding that the respondent treated the claimant less favourably because of age, and no evidence that an older comparator would have been treated differently. It held that the complaint was investigated, that the claimant's account of being told to accept it or being treated as a silly girl was not supported by the contemporaneous evidence, and that the brief insensitive comment the tribunal did accept was not enough to found age discrimination.

The harassment claim succeeded. The tribunal accepted that G's conduct amounted to unwanted conduct related to sex and that the first respondent was vicariously liable. It found that the statutory defence under s109(4) EqA was not made out because, although policies existed, there was no evidence of effective pre-incident training or guidance for G. The unlawful deduction claim failed because the £105.19 deduction was recovery of an overpayment arising from the claimant remaining on full sick pay after her contractual entitlement had moved to SSP. Remedy for the harassment claim was left to a later hearing, and the tribunal recommended staff training on safeguarding and harassment together with access to the handbook and relevant policies.