Miss Helen Clifford v McMillan Williams Solicitors Ltd and 1 other — 2019

At the 15 August 2019 hearing, Employment Judge Barrowclough dealt with case management applications only. Miss Helen Clifford had brought claims against McMillan Williams Solicitors Ltd and Mr Dominic Harrison alleging constructive unfair dismissal, detriment for protected disclosures, harassment related to sex and victimisation, but none of those claims was finally determined in this judgment. The Tribunal allowed minor amendments to the ET3 and ET1, and ordered the Claimant to provide copies of the documents in her list by 29 August 2019.

Applying the relevance approach to specific disclosure, and referring to Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce v Beck, the Tribunal refused the Claimant's request for grievances, proceedings, settlement agreements and NDAs involving other employees or third parties. It held that the documents sought at items 19 to 24 did not concern the Claimant and were not necessary for the fair disposal of the proceedings. The Tribunal noted that the agreed issues already included the Claimant's complaints about Mr Wainwright and Ms Patel, and Ms Butler and Mr Barry, and that evidence from Mr Colum Smith and Ms Attree could assist on the prevailing state of affairs, but that did not justify the wider disclosure sought. The related application for costs failed.

The Tribunal also refused witness orders for five named individuals, relying on Dada v Metal Box Co Ltd and noting that the Claimant had not herself approached them and had not shown that their evidence would be relevant or necessary. It dismissed the strike out or deposit order application, finding no undue delay by the Respondents and that there were triable issues of fact for the full merits hearing. It also refused to join Business Growth Fund Ltd as an additional respondent because no issue within the Tribunal's jurisdiction was identified between it and the Claimant.