EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case Number: 4106692/2020 Miss C Smith v YourLife Management Services Limited — 2021

Miss C Smith brought claims of unfair dismissal, unlawful deduction from wages, and discrimination on the ground of marital status against Yourlife Management Services Limited. The claimant accepted that she did not have two years' service, and the tribunal recorded that it therefore had no jurisdiction to consider the unfair dismissal claim.

On the wages claim, the claimant later confirmed that she had been paid the outstanding sums due to her. The tribunal held that there was no basis for an unlawful deduction from wages claim and that it had no reasonable prospect of success. The respondent applied under rule 37, with an alternative application for a deposit order under rule 39, and the tribunal considered the application in chambers.

On the discrimination allegation, the claimant relied on the fact that she was legally married and was in the process of a legal separation. The tribunal found that she had not set out any facts from which it could infer that dismissal was because of her marital status, and she had not provided a comparator or facts from which a hypothetical comparator could be constructed. The tribunal noted that strike out is a draconian step, particularly for an unrepresented claimant, but concluded that the claimant had set out no facts at all capable of supporting the remaining discrimination claim.

The judgment states that the remaining claims had no reasonable prospects of success and that the claim was struck out under rule 37(1)(a) of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013. No monetary award was made.