EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case Nos: 4102333/2022 & 4100441/2024 Held at Aberdeen on June 2024 Employment Judge J M Hendry v Represented by, Ms R Cox Grampian Community Law Centre Miss Kathryn Hilton Highland Council — 2024

At the preliminary hearing on 24 June 2024, Miss Hilton had already withdrawn her disability discrimination claims. Highland Council then pursued a Rule 37 strike-out application against the remaining Equality Act and whistleblowing allegations, and the tribunal noted that the separate unfair dismissal claim would continue.

The tribunal struck out the direct sex discrimination claim under s.13 Equality Act 2010. It held that the pleadings did not identify a causal link between the complained-of lone working, night patrols and extended street patrols and Miss Hilton's sex, and that concerns about being unsafe as a woman did not themselves establish treatment because of sex. The strike-out application was refused on the indirect sex discrimination claim, because the tribunal considered that lone patrols in darkness could amount to an arguable PCP and that the comparator point was not fatal at this stage.

On victimisation under s.27 Equality Act 2010, the tribunal struck out the first three detriment allegations because they predated the April 2022 ET1 and no adequate causal link to a protected act was pleaded. The later grievance allegation was not struck out, although the tribunal said it had little prospects of success on the material before it. On the public interest disclosure-detriment claim, the tribunal held that reporting that it was unsafe to patrol alone in darkness could potentially amount to a qualifying disclosure under s.43B ERA 1996, but the public interest element still needed to be addressed, so the strike-out application was refused on that claim.