Case 4100519/2017 · Employment Tribunal
M s Cheryl McFarlane v Represented b y : - M r Stephen Connolly - Solicitor South Lanarkshire C o u n c i l — 2017
- Case reference
- 4100519/2017
- Decision date
- 8 November 2017
- Jurisdiction
- Scotland
- Judge
- Employment Judge Ian McPherson
Parties
2 namedClaimant
M s Cheryl McFarlane
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe case concerned Ms Cheryl McFarlane's unfair constructive dismissal claim arising from the termination of her employment on 28 November 2016. At this preliminary hearing, the tribunal dealt only with her opposed application to amend the ET1 so as to add a further factual averment about what Jim Gilhooly allegedly said after the disciplinary hearing on 14 October 2016, namely that she would not return to Chatelherault Primary School as Acting Principal Teacher.
The respondent opposed the amendment as a late change to the pleaded case and argued that it would require further investigation because Mr Gilhooly had retired. The tribunal held that the proposed amendment was not a wholly new cause of action but an additional alleged 'last straw' closely linked to the existing constructive dismissal claim. Applying the Selkent balancing exercise and the authorities it reviewed, the judge allowed the amendment and ordered the respondents to lodge further and better particulars within three weeks.
Because the amendment was allowed, the listed final hearing fixed for 13 to 16 November 2017 was postponed and the case was to be relisted in January to March 2018. The judgment made no finding on liability or remedy in the unfair dismissal claim itself.
Claims and outcomes
1 finding recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unfair dismissal | Preliminary hearing only. The tribunal dealt with the claimant's opposed application to amend the ET1 in an underlying unfair constructive dismissal claim, allowed the amendment, and postponed the final hearing. No liability or remedy was decided. | Other | — | — |
Legal tests applied
7 references- Selkent Bus Co Ltd v Moore
- Ali v Office of National Statistics
- Ahuja v Inghams
- Abercrombie & Others v Aga Rangemaster Ltd
- Chandhok v Tirkey
- Rule 29 Employment Tribunals Rules 2013
- Rule 2 overriding objective
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
Named in this case and want it removed? Submit a takedown request. The page will be withdrawn on receipt and the editor will follow up within five working days.