Mr O Nnamuchi v UNISON Scotland — 2025

Mr O Nnamuchi was a UNISON member while employed by Dundee University, but the tribunal found that he had at no time been an employee of UNISON. At the hearing on 19 November 2025, the tribunal identified complaints under TULRCA section 174, TULRCA section 146, TULRCA section 64, ERA section 13, plus complaints framed as negligence, unlawful industrial action, and breach of union rules and/or procedures.

The complaints under section 146 TULRCA and section 13 ERA were struck out under Rule 38(1)(a) because both depend on the claimant being an employee or worker of the respondent, and he did not seek to prove that status. The complaints alleging negligence, unlawful industrial action, and breach of union rules and/or procedures were also struck out because the tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to determine those matters.

By contrast, the section 174 and section 64 complaints were not struck out. The tribunal held that each depended on disputed facts: for section 174, whether the claimant had been excluded or expelled from UNISON; and for section 64, whether there had been unjustifiable discipline connected with deduction arrangements. Those complaints were allowed to proceed defended, subject to a later hearing on time bar.

The claimant also applied to strike out the response and sought a preparation time order of at least £35,910. That application failed. The tribunal held that the respondent had not failed to comply with an order requiring contact details for the hearing, that the late skeleton argument did not justify the draconian sanction of strike out, and that there was no basis for a preparation time award. The tribunal referred to the future possibility of an Equality Act 2010 amendment, but no discrimination claim was determined in this judgment.