Mrs F Dearie v Represented by: Mr D Hutchison - Solicitor Co-Operative Group Limited — 2021

At a preliminary hearing on 20 January 2021, Employment Judge L Doherty considered the respondent's application to strike out the claims of Mrs F Dearie, Mrs R Walker and Miss J Lakes. The respondent said the claims had been presented irregularly because they were put on one claim form even though the claimants did not all do the same job and the claims were not based on the same set of facts for rule 9 purposes. The claimants accepted that the claims were irregularly presented, but asked the Tribunal to waive the irregularity under rule 6 because striking them out would prejudice them by requiring fresh claims and risking loss of part of the backpay period.

The Tribunal held that rule 9 only permits multiple claimants on one form where the claims are based on the same set of facts, and found that these claims did not meet that test. It relied on Brierley v Asda Stores (2019) EWCA 8 (civ) as making the position clear by the time these claims were lodged in September 2019. Balancing the prejudice to the claimants against the irregular presentation, and noting that no specific explanation beyond general practice in equal pay litigation was provided, the Tribunal exercised its discretion under rule 6 and struck the claims out under rule 6(b).