Mr M Bhuiyan v Valuation Office Agency and 4 others — 2017

At the preliminary hearing on 8 March 2017 before Employment Judge J Hill, the tribunal recorded that Mr M Bhuiyan had brought complaints of race discrimination against the Valuation Office Agency, including direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation. The hearing also led to the discharge of respondents 2 to 5 from the proceedings, leaving the Agency as the remaining respondent.

The tribunal identified the preliminary hearing issues as whether any claims were out of time under s.123 of the Equality Act 2010, whether any claims should be struck out as having no reasonable prospect of success, whether any deposit order should be made because of little reasonable prospect of success, and what further case management directions were needed. It noted that the issues could not yet be accurately recorded because the claimant still had to complete further and better particulars.

The judgment therefore made case management orders only. It required the claimant to serve the requested particulars by 7 April 2017, permitted the respondent to amend its response by 28 April 2017, ordered disclosure and a joint bundle timetable, and directed exchange of witness statements by 21 July 2017. A further preliminary hearing was listed for 15 August 2017 and the full merits hearing for 22 to 26 January 2018. No substantive finding on liability or remedy was made in this judgment.