Claimant v Arnold Clark Automobiles Limited — 2022

This was a preliminary hearing dealing with amendment, further particulars and case management rather than the merits of the substantive employment claims. The tribunal allowed the claimant to amend her claim to add certain allegations of associative race discrimination and harassment under section 9 of the Equality Act 2010, but refused the proposed amendment insofar as it related to paragraph 1.4 because no facts were pled to show that the suspension was because of the claimant’s association with Mr Munro.

The tribunal also considered whether parts of the claimant’s further particulars were properly further particulars or amounted to new claims. It accepted the further particulars except for paragraph 1.3, which it treated as a new and different allegation not referenced in the ET1 and refused as an amendment. The claimant withdrew her application to add a sex discrimination claim.

The application to combine this case with Mr Munro’s case was refused. The tribunal held that, although there was overlap and each claimant might be a witness in the other’s case, the claims involved different alleged treatment and different dismissal or resignation circumstances. The judgment then summarised the claims remaining outstanding for final hearing, including unfair dismissal, direct discrimination related to sexual orientation, associative race discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, and victimisation.