ETZ 4(WR) EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 4111529/2021 Preliminary Hearing by Cloud Video Platform on June 2022 Employment Judge: M A Macleod Dr A Kerr v Represented by Ms R Jiggens Paralegal University of St Andrews — 2022

At a preliminary hearing on 1 June 2022 before Employment Judge M A Macleod, the respondent applied to strike out the claimant's claims under Rule 37 on the grounds of alleged non-compliance with an order dated 29 December 2021, unreasonable conduct, and failure actively to pursue the case. The claimant said the case included ordinary unfair dismissal, automatic unfair dismissal said to arise from the Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, and sex discrimination claims under sections 19, 26 and 27 of the Equality Act 2010; the separate less favourable treatment complaint under the 2002 Regulations was withdrawn. The tribunal referred to Ezsias v North Glamorgan NHS Trust and Blockbuster Entertainment Ltd v James.

The tribunal held that the claimant's responses to the order were diffuse and unhelpful, but that there had not been a substantial failure to comply with the order, that the conduct had not reached the level of unreasonable conduct, and that the claim was being actively pursued. It found that the dispute about the unfairness of the dismissal and its alleged discriminatory impact on the claimant as a woman needed to be heard by a full tribunal, that a fair trial was still possible, and that this was not one of the rare exceptional cases in which strike out of a discrimination claim was appropriate. The respondent's application was therefore refused, and the case was listed for a further two-hour preliminary hearing in person so the claimant's case could be set out in one coherent document.