E.T. Z (WR) EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 4109283/2021 (P)5 Held on October 2021 Employment Judge N M Hosie Mr A Leslie v Metrol Technology Ltd — 2021

In the judgment dated 18 October 2021, the claimant's employment had ended on 22 January 2021. His original ET1, presented on 26 April 2021, said that his redundancy payment had been miscalculated and that he was due holiday pay and wages, with a stated figure of about £50,000 to £100,000. By email on 15 July 2021 he applied to amend the claim to add unfair dismissal, alleging that the redundancy was a sham and that he had been selected because he would not sign new terms and conditions.

The respondent opposed the amendment as late and insufficiently particularised. The tribunal applied the guidance in Cocking, Selkent and later authorities, and treated the proposed unfair dismissal complaint as a new cause of action. It held that the amendment application was out of time by about seven weeks, that the claimant had not explained why it was not reasonably practicable to present the unfair dismissal claim in time, and that the application was made with hindsight after a vacancy advertisement appeared some months after dismissal. The tribunal also found the new pleading lacked the specification needed to support an unfair dismissal claim.

Balancing the interests of justice and the relative prejudice to the parties, the tribunal decided that allowing the amendment would lead to further case management, delay and additional expense for the respondent. It noted that refusing the amendment did not prevent the claimant from pursuing the claims already set out in his original ET1. The application to amend was therefore refused, and the judgment did not determine the merits of the underlying redundancy, wages or holiday pay complaints.