Mr Dariusz Mizera v Alpla UK Ltd — 2025

This was a preliminary hearing on the claimant's application to amend his claim to include an additional allegation of making a protected disclosure. The proposed allegation concerned an incident in late March or early April 2023, when the claimant said his arm was trapped, or nearly trapped, in a machine and the safety system should have activated but did not.

Employment Judge D Wright applied the principles in Selkent Bus Co Ltd v Moore. The tribunal accepted that the new matter was not an entirely new head of claim, because it remained a protected disclosure allegation, but found that it was not merely the addition of factual detail to an existing allegation. The proposed incident introduced new factual allegations that changed the basis of the existing claim.

The tribunal noted that the allegation, taken on its own, would now be out of time, although it was arguable that it could form part of a continuing course of conduct and so be brought in time by that route. That point was regarded as favourable to the claimant. However, the tribunal found the timing and manner of the application unsatisfactory, because the claimant said he only remembered the incident after taking photographs on 4 November 2024, rather than because of disclosure material, and there was no stronger explanation for not including it in the original claim.

The tribunal also found prejudice to the respondent. Allowing the amendment would have required investigation of a range of March and April 2023 events, with no firm date for the alleged incident, and witness recollection was likely to have faded. Balancing those factors, the tribunal refused the application to amend. No remedy was awarded because this was a preliminary decision on amendment only.