Mr Francis Binamungu v Greater Glasgow Health Board and 1 other — 2018

This was a Preliminary Hearing concerning amendment and jurisdictional time limits for direct race discrimination allegations against the Second Respondent. The allegations arose from events on 29 May 2017 after the Claimant, a nurse working as an agency worker, was excluded from nursing in Ward 4 at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. The tribunal recorded contextual background but did not make findings on the substantive discrimination allegations.

The tribunal held that one allegation, concerning executing or complying with the instruction to exclude the Claimant from Ward 4, was already before the tribunal and required no amendment. It allowed amendments for allegations concerning failure to provide a reason for the exclusion and failure to investigate the reasons before executing the instruction. Applying Selkent principles, it found that the balance of prejudice favoured allowing the amendments, noting that a fair hearing remained possible and the final hearing had not yet been listed.

The tribunal accepted that the claims against the Second Respondent were out of time: the original allegation was 56 days late, while the amended allegations were treated as raised around seven months late. It accepted that the delay resulted from errors by the Claimant's trade union and/or solicitors rather than personal responsibility on the Claimant's part, and found no adverse effect on the cogency of evidence. It concluded that all claims were presented within a just and equitable further period and could proceed to a final hearing on their merits.