Miss Lungowe Kashina v The City of Edinburgh Council — 2019

The preliminary hearing considered whether the Tribunal had jurisdiction over two complaints: an alleged breach of contract and a claim for loss said to arise from an alleged verbal response by the respondent to a third party's request for a reference. The Tribunal found that the claimant had started employment with the respondent on 1 December 2014 and remained employed by it at the date of the hearing.

The Tribunal held that it did not have jurisdiction to consider the breach of contract claim under the Employment Tribunals (Extension of Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Order 1994, because such a claim must arise or be outstanding on termination of employment. It also held that the reference-related loss claim was a free-standing complaint and not part of a statutory complaint within the Tribunal's jurisdiction.

Both claims considered at the preliminary hearing were struck out and dismissed. The judgment recorded that other aspects of the claimant's claims, understood to include complaints broadly stated under the Working Time Regulations, were to proceed to a further case management preliminary hearing, with the respondent reserving a time bar argument.