Members: Ms JS Anderson Mr J McCaig Mr Robert Bartosik v PRL Realisations Ltd (In Administration) — 2022

Mr Bartosik, a Polish agency worker supplied by PMP Recruitment, brought race discrimination complaints arising from work at Kinnerton and later at Argos, together with an Agency Workers Regulations pay claim. The tribunal held that for the Kinnerton events the alleged decision-maker was more likely to have been Kinnerton rather than PMP, found no evidence that the claimant was treated less favourably because of race, and in any event held the complaint was out of time. The tribunal therefore dismissed the Kinnerton race discrimination claim.

For the Argos assignment, the claimant complained that Robert Jarvie sent him home on 17 and 18 January 2017, that Scottish pickers treated contract workers badly, and that PMP did not properly investigate his complaint. The tribunal extended time for the discrimination complaints to the date of the ET1 because ACAS conciliation had been pursued promptly and prejudice was limited, but dismissed the claims on the merits. It held that the alleged acts were more likely attributable to Argos rather than PMP, and that the evidence did not show treatment because of race; the conduct appeared to be directed at contract workers generally rather than Polish workers in particular.

On the Agency Workers Regulations claim, the tribunal found that Mr Bartosik had completed the 12-week qualifying period and was entitled under Regulation 5 to the same basic working and employment conditions as direct Argos warehouse pickers. It rejected the respondent's Swedish Derogation argument because no supporting documentation was produced. Relying on the payslips and the claimant's calculation, the tribunal found he had been paid less than direct workers paid at £9.45 per hour and awarded £1,378.47 as compensation under Regulation 18(8)(b), (10) and (11).