Mrs L Jarrett v Care UK Clinical Services Ltd — 2019

At this preliminary hearing, Employment Judge McLaren dismissed Mrs L Jarrett's unfair dismissal claim because she had less than two years' continuous employment with Care UK Clinical Services Limited and so did not have qualifying service. The tribunal therefore held that it had no jurisdiction over the unfair dismissal claim.

The tribunal then considered whether the claimant had also brought a race discrimination claim. Although the ET1 had not ticked the discrimination box, the written material referred to ethnicity, and the tribunal concluded that from the appeal onwards the claimant had consistently raised the point that the respondent attributed a motive to her actions because of her ethnicity rather than accepting that she had made a mistake. On that basis, the tribunal held that the claimant had raised a race discrimination claim and did not need qualifying service to pursue it.

The respondent applied for a deposit order under rule 39, arguing that the discrimination case lacked particulars and had little reasonable prospect of success. The tribunal accepted that the claim had not yet been particularised, but found the claimant's explanation for not yet doing so to be reasonable and said it was not in a position to assess prospects without further details. It therefore refused the deposit order application. No substantive liability decision or remedy award was made for the race discrimination claim at this stage.