Case 8001720/2025 · Employment Tribunal
Mrs K Stratford v The Trustees of the National Museums Scotland — 2026
- Case reference
- 8001720/2025
- Decision date
- 15 January 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Scotland
- Judge
- Employment Judge E Mannion
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Mrs K Stratford
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe tribunal considered a preliminary hearing on time bar for claims of constructive unfair dismissal and disability discrimination. The claimant's employment ended on 31 October 2024, the three-month limitation period expired on 30 January 2025, Acas early conciliation ran from 20 to 27 May 2025, and the ET1 was lodged on 14 July 2025.
For the constructive unfair dismissal claim, the tribunal accepted that the claimant faced overlapping caring responsibilities, health issues, and a demanding new job, but found that the almost six-month period after 30 January 2025 was not reasonable given her knowledge from February 2025 that this type of claim should be raised within three months. That claim was dismissed as out of time.
For the disability discrimination claim, the tribunal found it just and equitable to allow the claim to proceed. It considered the claimant's caring responsibilities, her partner's health, her own health and mental health evidence, the lack of legal representation because of the time bar issue, and the balance of prejudice, and found that the claimant's prejudice carried greater weight than the respondent's general forensic prejudice.
Claims and outcomes
2 findings recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constructive dismissal | The judgment states that the claimant's constructive unfair dismissal case was raised outside the statutory time period and is dismissed. | Dismissed | — | — |
| Disability discrimination | The judgment decided only the time bar issue, finding that the disability discrimination claim was raised within a just and equitable period and that the tribunal has jurisdiction to hear it. The merits were not determined. | Other | Disability | — |
Legal tests applied
12 references- Section 111(2) Employment Rights Act 1996
- not reasonably practicable
- Walls Meat Co Ltd v Khan 1979 ICR 52
- Section 123 Equality Act 2010
- just and equitable
- DPP v Mills 1998 IRLR 494
- Hutchison v Westward Television Ltd 1977 IRLR 69
- British Coal Corporation v Keeble and others 1997 IRLR 336
- Southwark London Borough Council v Afolabi 2003 ICR 800
- Department of Constitutional Affairs v Jones 2008 IRLR 128
- Szmidt v AC Produce Imports Ltd EAT 0291/14
- Robertson v Bexley Community Centre 2003 IRLR 434
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
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