Miss D Gisby v Southend on Sea Borough Council — 2022

Miss Gisby presented her race discrimination claim on 23 July 2021, arising from the Respondent's handling of an incident on 17 June 2020 in which she was accused of being involved in a violent altercation and using racial slurs. The claim alleged direct discrimination because the Respondent allegedly accepted the other person's account because that person was black and the Claimant was white. The Tribunal treated the issue before it as whether it was just and equitable to extend time under section 123 Equality Act 2010, not whether the dismissal or appeal decision was substantively discriminatory.

The Tribunal found that the relevant last act complained of was the appeal outcome on 8 October 2020, so the claim was presented around seven months after expiry of the primary three-month time limit. It accepted that the Claimant had been in therapy and had experienced mental health difficulties, but found her explanation for the delay vague and lacking dates or detail. The Claimant said she had PTSD and was unable to function, but she produced no medical diagnosis of PTSD and the only medical evidence was a fit note for mixed anxiety and depressive disorder and a later invitation to trauma therapy.

The Tribunal noted that the Claimant had nevertheless been able to pursue an appeal against dismissal in October 2020 and to apply for Universal Credit from November 2020, which undermined her case that she was wholly unable to take steps to bring proceedings. It also accepted that the Respondent would suffer prejudice from the delay, including forensic prejudice from fading memories and the loss of personal notes after staff had left, although the outcome letters retained a full account of the decision-making. Taking the balance of prejudice and the weakness of the claim into account, the Tribunal held that it was not just and equitable to extend time and dismissed the claim.