Ms Njie v Universal Care Ltd — 2019

This was a preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Daniels sitting alone on 7 February 2019. The tribunal dismissed the claimant's unfair dismissal claim. It held that Ms Njie did not have two years' continuous service, was not an employee within s230 ERA 1996, and had presented the claim out of time, so the tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear it.

The tribunal also held that Ms Njie was not employed under a contract of employment within s230 EWRA 1996, but was a worker within s230 ERA 1996. On that basis, it found that it had no jurisdiction to hear the breach of contract claim because she was not an employee and/or because that claim was out of time.

The judgment then listed issues that might fall to be determined at a later case management hearing, including limitation for the Equality Act complaints, whether the claimant was disabled because of visual impairment and/or sickle cell, direct discrimination because of race, religion, age or disability, harassment related to race and/or religion, and unauthorised deductions from wages. The judgment did not determine those merits issues at this stage, and listed a further case management hearing for 1 May 2019.