Mr R Iqbal v Sharps Bedrooms Limited — 2022

At a preliminary hearing on 2 March 2022, Employment Judge Hawksworth sitting alone considered the respondent's application under rule 37 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013 to strike out the claimant's discrimination complaints. The judge applied the approach in Mechkarov v Citibank NA and Ahir v British Airways plc, including the caution that discrimination claims should not be struck out unless there is no reasonable prospect of the necessary facts being established.

On issue 7.1, the claimant said the respondent did not hire him as first choice after interviews and that a woman was appointed instead. The respondent said another candidate had been offered the role first, that the preferred candidate was male, and relied on an offer of employment authorisation form recording the title as 'Mr'. The judge held that the claimant would need to show the form was made up, that the preferred candidate was female, and that the decision to offer the role ahead of him was sex-related. The tribunal concluded there was no reasonable chance of him establishing those matters and struck out issue 7.1.

On issues 8.1 to 8.6, the claimant alleged direct sex and age discrimination in relation to treatment by Ms Palmer and Ms Jones, the extension of his probationary period, his dismissal for failing probation, and the handling of his grievance and appeal. He relied on the respondent's failure to answer his questionnaire and on workforce gender and age data; the judge noted that the statutory questionnaire procedure had gone, but a failure to provide information could still support adverse inferences. The respondent said the action taken was because of an unresolved dispute between colleagues and the claimant's interactions with colleagues. The judge held that, at this stage, the complaints could not be said to have no reasonable prospect of success and refused the strike-out application, so those complaints were left to be determined after hearing the evidence in full.