Mr J. Wallace, Counsel For v Ms T. Patala, Solicitor — 2022

Mr S. Lee worked as a bus driver for Abellio London Ltd from October 2014 until his summary dismissal on 10 June 2020. This preliminary hearing concerned his application to amend the ET1, presented on 6 October 2020, to add wrongful dismissal and several discrimination-related complaints. The tribunal recorded that the disciplinary allegations arose from driving on 6 February 2020, that the Claimant was signed off sick from 21 February to 31 July 2020, that he had union assistance during the process, and that his appeal was heard on 26 August 2020 and rejected by letter dated 14 October 2020.

The tribunal granted the amendment to add wrongful dismissal. It held that this was a case of relabelling because the only factual and evidential difference was whether the conduct found by the Respondent amounted to misconduct or gross misconduct. The judgment states that any time-limit issue for that amendment would be dealt with at the final hearing, and the existing unfair dismissal claim continued in any event.

The tribunal refused the proposed amendments for direct disability discrimination, direct sex discrimination, victimisation, failure to make reasonable adjustments, and discrimination arising from disability. Applying the Selkent approach and the cases cited in the reasons, it held that these were new causes of action rather than mere relabelling, that the Claimant had the material facts available by the time of dismissal and when he filed the ET1, and that the appeal documents did not support the discrimination allegations. It also relied on the delay in seeking amendment until 16 March 2021, and on the additional delay, cost, and case-management burden that the new claims would create.