Mr Praveen Jambagi v PLK Chicken UK Ltd t/a Popeyes Louisiana Chicken — 2026

This was a preliminary hearing concerning applications to amend the claim, strike out allegations and make a deposit order. It did not determine the merits of the allegations permitted to proceed, and the tribunal refused the respondent's application for a deposit order.

The tribunal struck out the allegation that Simon Wood required Mr Jambagi to provide a medical certificate after sickness on 23 June 2024 as both direct race discrimination and racial harassment. Mr Jambagi did not know the race or ethnicity of the proposed comparator, Rhianna, and the tribunal considered that requesting a medical certificate was, on its face, likely to be a requirement applied regardless of race. The remaining proposed race discrimination and harassment allegations concerning timesheets, reduced hours, rostering and the alleged events involving Josh on 29 June 2024 were allowed to proceed. The tribunal held that they largely amounted to relabelling, preserved the time-limit issue for later determination and declined to strike them out because core facts were disputed and required evidence.

The application to amend the claim to add victimisation was refused in its entirety. Although the Claim Form used the word victimisation, it contained no particulars connecting retaliation to a protected act, and the tribunal found that the amendment was not a relabelling of pleaded facts. It also found no prima facie evidence that Mr Jambagi had performed a protected act and concluded that allowing the amendment would materially lengthen the proceedings and cause hardship to the respondent. No victimisation claim was determined on its merits.

All Working Time Regulations complaints were struck out as out of time except the allegation that Mr Jambagi was denied a 20-minute rest break in June 2024. The tribunal also held that alleged wage deductions on different dates between February and June 2024 did not constitute a series and struck out the complaints relating to periods before June 2024. The June 2024 unpaid-meetings claim remained, and the tribunal allowed an amendment alleging an unlawful deduction of £92.41. No monetary remedy was awarded.

The judgment records that, at an earlier preliminary hearing, Mr Jambagi confirmed that he had not made a protected disclosure and withdrew his whistleblowing detriment and automatic unfair constructive dismissal claims; a judgment dismissing those withdrawn claims was subsequently issued. It also records the earlier withdrawal of a wage-deduction claim concerning 10 hours' pay.