EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 4103537/2023 (V) Held at Aberdeen on November 2023 Employment Judge N M Hosie Mrs Euphemia Vinga v Represented by Ms N Bennett, Equality Black Nurses Barchester Healthcare Ltd — 2023

Mrs Euphemia Vinga brought a race discrimination claim arising from her employment with Barchester Healthcare Ltd as a registered nurse at Moray View House, Stoneyfield, Inverness. She resigned on 21 October 2022, with an effective date of termination of 21 November 2022. The tribunal recorded that she later became aware, on or about 15 March 2023, that the respondent had reported her to the Disclosure and Barring Service, after which she sought advice and early conciliation was started on 5 May 2023; the ACAS certificate issued on 6 June 2023 and the ET1 was presented on 3 July 2023.

The tribunal treated the pre-termination allegations as distinct acts rather than a continuing act of discrimination. It relied on the timing of the events and the involvement of different individuals, including the gap between the 20 October 2022 meeting complaint and the later January 2023 complaints, and referred to Aziz v FDA. It found that the only complaint that was timeous on the primary limitation period was the DBS referral on 15 March 2023.

The claimant asked for the pre-termination complaints to be allowed out of time, but the tribunal refused to extend time on a just and equitable basis. It considered the guidance in British Coal Corporation v Keeble & Others, Adedeji v University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and Robertson v Bexley Community Centre t/a Leisure Link. In doing so it took account of prejudice, the length of delay, the claimant's conduct, and the cogency of evidence if matters from October 2022 were heard at a final hearing. It noted that the claimant said she did not know about the three-month time limit until March 2023, but also found that she had believed she had been racially discriminated against in October 2022 and had taken no steps for some months to investigate bringing a claim.

For the post-termination complaints, the tribunal relied on section 108 of the Equality Act 2010, which covers discrimination and harassment after employment has ended. It held that the refusal of a reference on or about 6 January 2023 and the NMC referral on or about 19 January 2023 were out of time, but it was just and equitable to extend time for both. The DBS referral was within time. The judgment records that the tribunal had jurisdiction to consider only those three post-termination complaints; it did not determine the merits of any of them.