Mr M R Kler v Barclays Bank UK plc — 2020

The claimant brought claims of race, age and religion or belief discrimination arising from the withdrawal of a potential employment opportunity with the respondent. The Tribunal found that the claimant knew by 17 October 2018 that he had been rejected, so the deadline for presenting the claim or starting ACAS early conciliation was 16 January 2019. He did not start early conciliation until 5 February 2019 and presented the claim on 26 February 2019.

The Tribunal considered whether it was just and equitable to extend time. It found that the delay was significant and that the claimant's explanations were inconsistent, vague on dates, and did not adequately explain why he had not taken steps within time. The Tribunal accepted that the additional delay was unlikely to affect the cogency of the respondent's evidence, but held that the absence of prejudice to the respondent was not enough.

The Tribunal declined to extend time and dismissed the discrimination claims. It did not need to determine the respondent's strike out or deposit order applications, but stated briefly that it would have been persuaded that the claims had little reasonable prospects of success and that deposit orders would have been made had the claims proceeded.