Miss K Wood v Consilium Academies — 2024

Following a show-cause process, the tribunal struck out the Claimant's complaints under Employment Tribunal Rule 37. The unfair dismissal complaint was not within jurisdiction because the Claimant accepted that she had only 17 months' service with the Respondent and did not rely on any automatically unfair reason that would remove the two-year qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal.

The race-related complaint was treated as a harassment claim. The tribunal said the acts complained of did not, on their face, have anything to do with race, and the Claimant did not identify any basis on which the treatment could be said to be harassment related to race. The Claimant also accepted that she did not meet the protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010.

The breach of contract complaint was also found to have no reasonable prospect of success. The tribunal noted the alleged contractual issue about a six-week informal support plan, but on the Claimant's own case there was nothing to suggest that the plan would not have lasted six weeks. The notice-pay complaint appeared to be based on a failure by the Claimant to give two months' notice, which would not found a claim for pay for that period. The tribunal also noted that any complaint about health and safety had not been properly raised by amendment. In those circumstances, the tribunal struck the claim out in full as consistent with the overriding objective.