Claimant v Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (Scotland) — 2020

The hearing on 17 November 2020 was conducted by CVP before Employment Judge P O'Donnell. The tribunal dealt with two applications: the respondent's strike-out application in relation to the claimant's s103A ERA 1996 public-interest-disclosure dismissal claim, and the claimant's application to add an additional respondent to his disability discrimination claim. No findings in fact were made; for the strike-out application the claimant's case was taken at its highest.

The tribunal struck out the s103A claim under Rule 37(1)(a). It accepted the respondent's submission that the disclosure on which the claim relied was an email sent to Mr Billy McAllister on 5 June 2019, but held that Mr McAllister was not the claimant's employer and that the facts pled could not bring the disclosure within s43C ERA 1996. It also held that the claim could not proceed under s43G because the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator was a prescribed person for the relevant subject matter under s43F, and the claimant had not pled a factual basis for the alternative route in s43G(2)(c) based on a previous disclosure to the employer.

The claimant's application to add Patrick Hill was withdrawn, and the tribunal considered only the proposed addition of Caroline Dixon to the disability discrimination claim. Applying Rule 34 and the Selkent factors, the tribunal refused the application. It found there had been no adequate explanation for the delay, the proposed claim against Ms Dixon would have been out of time if presented by fresh ET1, and allowing the amendment would have caused further delay. The tribunal noted that it was not deciding the merits of the underlying disability discrimination claim, only whether Ms Dixon should be added as a respondent.