Member M Macfarlane Tribunal Member R Taggart v Assisted by Interpreter Mr Gantcher Atalian Servest Ltd — 2023

At a preliminary hearing in Edinburgh on 29 March 2023, Employment Judge Jones considered the claimant's second ET claim. The claimant appeared in person with an interpreter and the respondent was represented by a solicitor. The tribunal had previously directed the claimant to confirm whether the new claim was, in substance, the same as the earlier claim and to provide her dates of employment, but she did not do so.

The claimant confirmed that the second claim did relate to the same matters as the first claim and said she had wanted to make amendments to the earlier case. The tribunal explained that any amendment would need to be made by written application, setting out clearly the amendment sought, the remedy sought, and the statutory basis of the claim. When asked what new issues were being raised, the claimant said she was complaining that her annual leave had been delayed and that she had not received statutory sick pay to which she was entitled.

The tribunal indicated that it had difficulty seeing the jurisdictional basis for a claim based on delayed annual leave and noted that it might not have jurisdiction over a claim for statutory sick pay if that was statutory rather than contractual sick pay. The claimant also accepted that the second claim 'overlapped' the first. On that basis, and because the claim had not been particularised with dates of employment and appeared to concern the same period of employment that had ended in August 2022, the tribunal struck out the second claim.

The judgment records the strike out as being on the basis that the claim had no reasonable prospects of success and/or was vexatious. No substantive liability findings or monetary award were made, and the tribunal directed that any desired amendments to the first claim should be made in writing.