Mrs M Ghouri v Claimed that she had been discriminated against because of disability, constructively dismissed and that the and 10 others — 2025

This preliminary hearing concerned the claimant’s application to amend her case to add a breach of contract claim. The background was that the claimant had originally brought claims including disability discrimination, constructive dismissal and unlawful deduction from wages. The respondent conceded disability status before this hearing, and the amendment issue was then listed for determination. The claimant’s employment had ended by resignation on 9 October 2024, with early conciliation commencing on 14 August 2024 and the certificate issuing on 25 September 2024.

The tribunal recorded that the claimant wished to replace her unlawful deduction from wages claim with a breach of contract claim, based on the respondent allegedly failing to offer her shifts between 10 August and 20 September 2024. She said she had generally worked at Fort Kinnaird or Princes Street and could not work at the Gyle, while the written contract stated under place of work that she would normally be required to work at any client sites as required by the needs of the business. The tribunal noted that the claimant relied on an alleged verbal agreement with a manager, but the term she advanced was said to be in direct contradiction to the written contract term.

Applying the Selkent principles and the overriding objective, the tribunal held that the proposed breach of contract claim was a new claim rather than a relabelling of an existing one. It was also out of time and, in the tribunal’s view, had no reasonable prospects of success. The tribunal refused the amendment. It noted that the claimant could still advance the location issue within her constructive dismissal claim and her reasonable adjustments case. The judgment records that the case was to proceed to the already listed final hearing on the claimant’s unfair dismissal and disability discrimination claims.