A Kemp (sitting alone) Miss L McGregor v Represented by Mr D McGregor Father Total Waste Management Alliance Ltd — 2019

This preliminary hearing considered the respondents’ strike-out and deposit-order applications after an earlier detailed judgment had already set out what needed to be pled. The employment judge noted that the claimant’s amended pleading, prepared by her father, was lengthy and at times difficult to follow, but the tribunal allowed amendment except for matters that had been withdrawn or struck out. The application for a deposit order was refused.

The unfair dismissal claim was not the subject of strike-out or deposit relief, so it was allowed to proceed to a full hearing under s.98(4) ERA 1996. By contrast, the tribunal struck out the indirect discrimination claim under s.19 and the disability harassment claim under s.26. It also struck out most of the direct disability discrimination claim under s.13, while leaving only limited allegations in paragraph 2.0 and the first sentence of paragraph 2.2 to proceed on a hypothetical-comparator basis.

The tribunal treated the s.15 disability claim as withdrawn and dismissed on that basis, although it recorded that one matter in paragraph 2.0 could still operate as an alternative label to surviving facts. The sex harassment claim was also dismissed on withdrawal, and the direct sex discrimination claim was withdrawn during submissions. On reasonable adjustments under s.20, the tribunal allowed some allegations to continue, but struck out other parts for lack of adequate pleading and time-bar reasons.

The equal pay claim, framed by reference to like work and work of equal value and comparators John Anderson, Alan Bolton and Jim Robertson, was held to be sufficiently pled. The judgment recorded, however, that the work-of-equal-value aspect was sisted. No substantive merits findings or monetary award were made at this stage.