In person For the v Respondent — 2020

The claimant brought a disability discrimination claim arising from events said to have started around 2 August 2017, when he said he disclosed stress and anxiety, and continued until his mandate for mortgage underwriting was granted on 6 October 2017. The tribunal treated 6 October 2017 as the latest potentially relevant date for limitation purposes, so the primary deadline for proceedings was 5 January 2018. The claimant did not contact ACAS until 27 February 2018 and did not file the ET1 until 16 April 2018.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had pursued an internal grievance, had health issues in December 2017 and early January 2018, and had also experienced his wife's miscarriage. It also noted that he had obtained some advice from Mr Rai and had spoken to ACAS before the claim was lodged. Even so, it held that those matters did not justify the further delay after 11 January 2018, when he started a new job and was fit to work, and it was not persuaded that it was just and equitable to extend time under s123(1)(a) Equality Act 2010.

Because the claim was out of time, the tribunal dismissed the disability discrimination complaint without determining the substantive allegations or whether the claimant was disabled within the meaning of section 6 of the Equality Act 2010. It also refused the claimant's application for leave to amend, applying the Selkent factors and noting that the proposed additional matters were substantial, were raised late, and would prejudice the respondent because relevant witnesses had left employment and memories had faded. The respondent's case on prejudice was accepted as part of that balancing exercise.