Miss K Fordham v Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service — 2021

Miss Fordham was employed by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service from 1 April 2019. She alleged sexual harassment by a colleague, Stephen Moore, between 8 May 2019 and 1 October 2019. The tribunal found that she raised the matter with managers in October 2019, asked for a desk move, and said she did not want the matter taken further at that stage. It also found that when the issue arose again during the disciplinary process in August 2020, she still did not want formal action taken, although the subject was mentioned as mitigation.

The tribunal first dealt with the unfair dismissal complaint. It held that the relevant deadline was 10 March 2021 after early conciliation, and accepted that the claimant genuinely but mistakenly believed she had until 15 March 2021 because of the way the union email and Acas information were forwarded. That meant it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim by 10 March. However, the claim was first submitted on 12 March 2021 without the EC number and then re-presented on 28 March 2021 after rejection, and the tribunal held that this was not within a reasonable further period. It therefore had no jurisdiction to consider unfair dismissal.

On the Equality Act claims, the tribunal allowed the victimisation complaint to proceed to a final hearing. It accepted that the short delay was explained by confusion about the Acas dates, that the respondent was already aware of the substance of the complaint, and that the balance of prejudice favoured allowing the claim to go forward. By contrast, it refused to extend time for the sexual harassment complaint, which it said was brought almost 18 months after the last alleged act and where the claimant had had the opportunity and support to complain earlier but chose not to. It also refused to extend time for the age discrimination complaint, which it treated as an essentially new allegation first raised at the preliminary hearing on 1 June 2021.