Miss D Fercik v 1) Grovewise Consultants Ltd trading as Forte Reliable Staffing Agency & Best Recruitment 2) Compass Group UK & Ireland Ltd — 2024

This was a preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Dawson sitting alone at Southampton on 20 May 2024 to identify the issues and determine the respondents' applications to strike out the claims and for a deposit order. The claimant, an agency worker supplied by the 1st respondent to the 2nd respondent's nursing home on 7 November 2022, alleged race discrimination on the basis that she was required to perform kitchen, pot washing and cleaning duties because she is non-British/East European, and also brought an unlawful deduction from wages claim.

The tribunal dismissed the application to strike out the race discrimination claim, holding that such claims should generally not be struck out where central facts are in dispute and a fair trial remained possible. However, the tribunal concluded the race claim had little reasonable prospect of success because the claimant could point to no evidence that a British agency worker would have been treated differently, and it was at least as likely she was treated as she was because she was an agency worker rather than because of her race; a deposit order was therefore appropriate.

The unlawful deduction from wages claim was struck out. The claimant accepted she carried out no work on 9 November 2022 (so any loss was properly characterised as flowing from the alleged discrimination rather than as a deduction) and that she was in fact paid £10.50 per hour for 7 November 2022, so no deduction had occurred.