In person For the v Respondent — 2021

Mr J Apple was engaged by Fibro TX under a 5 February 2019 agreement described as a contract for services. He asked the tribunal to declare that he was in employment rather than self-employed, and also alleged race discrimination, saying Estonian workers on the same organisational chart had employment contracts while he did not. No evidence was taken at the preliminary hearing, and the tribunal considered the claimant's case at its realistic highest.

The tribunal held that it had no standalone jurisdiction to make a declaration of employment status, because the employment tribunal can only decide status where it is a gateway issue for another statutory claim. It said that even if the status point were read as a claim under s.11 ERA 1996, it would have been out of time under s.11(4)(a), and reasonably practicable for it to have been brought in time.

On the race claim, the tribunal found that the only pleaded discriminatory act was the issue of the 5 February 2019 contract. It held that this was a single discrete act with continuing consequences, not a continuing act, and rejected the claimant's attempt to rely on alleged September 2019 proceedings in Estonia because they were not pleaded in the ET1. The tribunal found the contract was validly terminated on 4 April 2019, so time ran from that date; the ET1 presented on 4 December 2019 was out of time, early conciliation had started too late to stop the clock, and it was not just and equitable to extend time. The tribunal therefore struck out the race discrimination claim and struck out the proceedings in their entirety.