Miss Collins v Boots Management Services Ltd PUBLIC PRELIMINARY HEARING — 2023

Miss Collins was employed by Boots Management Services Ltd from 2009 as an Accuracy Checking Pharmacy Technician and was dismissed with immediate effect on 13 August 2021 for gross misconduct relating to clinically checking and initialling prescriptions and related regulatory breaches. She had already presented an ET1 on 11 November 2021, which pleaded disability discrimination only. The public preliminary hearing on 19 June 2023 was to decide whether any claims were out of time and whether she should be allowed to amend to add unfair dismissal.

On the time-limit issue for the disability discrimination complaints, the tribunal did not finally decide whether the claims were out of time. For the purposes of the preliminary hearing, it accepted that the alleged failures to make reasonable adjustments may have continued until dismissal, apart from the complaint about lower shelves. The judge considered that the issue was fact-sensitive and better left to the final hearing, particularly because some of the earlier matters might still form background to later complaints.

On the amendment application, the tribunal held that adding unfair dismissal was a relabelling exercise rather than the introduction of a wholly new factual case. The ET1 and addendum already referred to the disciplinary process, the investigation meeting, the statements made during that process, and the claimant's dissatisfaction with the dismissal outcome. Applying the Selkent approach to amendment, the tribunal found the claimant would suffer greater prejudice if the amendment were refused and allowed her to amend her claim to add unfair dismissal. No findings were made on the merits of dismissal, and no remedy was awarded at this stage.