Member Ms M McAllister Tribunal Member Mr R McPherson Ms M Coulter v Scottish Police Authority — 2024

This was a discrimination claim on grounds of sexual orientation under section 13 of the Equality Act 2010. The claimant alleged that she had been treated less favourably by being subjected to informal disciplinary action and moved to a different team after issues were raised about communications to a colleague.

The final hearing was listed for 15 to 18 January 2024. On the first day the claimant did not attend after emailing the Tribunal to say she was cold and asked for the case to be postponed. The tribunal declined the respondent's application to dismiss for non-attendance, criticised the claimant's decision not to attend, and directed her to attend the following day.

When the hearing resumed, the claimant objected to the presence of the sister of the respondent's first witness, who wished to attend the public hearing for moral support. The tribunal explained that the hearing was public and that the sister was entitled to attend, refused the claimant's postponement request, and then recorded the claimant's repeated refusal to proceed unless the sister left the room. Applying rule 37(1)(b) and (e), and referring to Hasan v Tesco Stores Limited, De Keyser Ltd v Wilson, Bolch v Chipman and Leslie v Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, the tribunal struck out the claim because the claimant's conduct was unreasonable and it was no longer possible to have a fair hearing.

Because the claim was struck out before any substantive evidence was heard, the tribunal made no findings on the underlying discrimination allegations. It also refused the claimant's request for anonymity, stating that there was no evidential basis for such an order and that open justice applied.