Mrs K Wimbourne v Forefront Utilities Ltd — 2023

The tribunal considered the claimant's application to amend her existing unfair dismissal claim to add complaints of whistleblowing detriment, automatic unfair dismissal because of protected disclosures, and harassment or discrimination on grounds of race and/or religion or belief. It found that these were entirely new complaints, not referred to in the ET1 or appeal documents, and that they were raised late without a satisfactory reason.

Balancing injustice and hardship, the tribunal refused the amendment application. It referred to the lateness of the proposed complaints, the absence of a good reason for omitting them from the claim form, its assessment that they had little or no reasonable prospects of success, and prejudice to the respondent in defending them given witness and document difficulties.

After refusing the amendment, the tribunal considered jurisdiction over the unfair dismissal complaint. The claimant confirmed she had not been employed for at least two years, and her earlier work ending in 2015 could not be joined to the contract that began in 2018. The tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the unfair dismissal complaint and struck it out.