EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 8000012/2023 Judgment on Strike-out Application Employment Judge: M A Macleod v Mariana Nijloveanu Next Level Security Services Ltd — 2023

The case came before the tribunal on the respondent's application to strike out the claimant's claims for non-compliance with tribunal orders. The tribunal had already held several preliminary hearings, including hearings on 8 March 2023, 5 April 2023, and 24 May 2023, and had issued an Unless Order requiring further clarification of the claims. The claimant, who was unrepresented, sent written responses that the tribunal described as confusing and at times drawn from internet or other external sources, but the tribunal accepted that she had made some effort to engage with the orders rather than simply ignoring them.

The unfair dismissal claim was dismissed for want of jurisdiction. The tribunal found that the claimant's employment with the respondent ran from August 2022 to December 2022, so she had only around four months' service and did not meet the two-year qualifying service requirement under section 108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The tribunal said there was no basis on which it could hear an unfair dismissal claim in those circumstances.

The tribunal treated the remaining complaints as direct discrimination claims under section 13 of the Equality Act 2010, together with complaints about holiday pay and notice pay. It recorded the claimant's case that she had been given fewer shifts than younger workers and than people of other nationalities, and that her supervisor used a different tone towards her as a Romanian citizen. Although the tribunal considered the allegations vague and likely to be difficult to prove, it held that the discrimination claims were understandable and could be brought to proof, so they were not struck out.

The tribunal also refused to strike out the holiday pay and notice pay complaints. Taking account of the claimant's unrepresented status, the tribunal concluded that she had not wholly failed to comply with the Unless Order and that a further order was unlikely to assist. The respondent's application for strike-out, and for judgment based on non-compliance with the Unless Order, was therefore refused, and the remaining claims were allowed to proceed to a merits hearing.