Ms E Banton, Counsel v Respondent — 2020

Mr Adams brought 14 post-termination victimisation claims under section 27 of the Equality Act 2010, relying on a race discrimination claim against the first respondent that had been compromised by a COT3 on 11 March 2013. He said later references, interview outcomes and internal communications across several NHS trusts caused repeated refusals of substantive or locum consultant posts between 2012 and 2018.

For the early claims, the tribunal accepted that some references might have been negative and that some referrers had raised concerns about the claimant's work ethic and character, but it found no evidence that the relevant doctors or selection panels knew of the protected act or were motivated by it. It treated several allegations as mistaken or speculative, including the R1/Dr Chilton point, the assumed adverse reference from Dr Flynn, the Northwick Park claim, and the York claim based on Mr Etule's involvement and the GMC reporting route.

The later claims arising from North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust and other recruitment exercises were also rejected as speculative. The tribunal found that the July 2016 Dr Andrews claim depended on assumptions about who wrote the reference and why; that the May 2017, late-2017 restricted-list, and 2018 shortlisting claims lacked evidence of a causal connection to the protected act; and that the September 2018 feedback from Dr Gardener concerned professional concerns rather than victimisation.

On limitation, the tribunal found that most allegations were many years out of time. Applying Hendricks and the other authorities it cited, including Anyanwu and Royal Mail Group v Jhuti, it rejected the case that there was an overarching continuing act, held that the claimant knew of the relevant rejections when they occurred, and concluded that it would not be just and equitable to extend time. It struck out the claims, with claims 1 (as against R2), 4, 5 and 7 additionally held to be out of time, and made no monetary award.