Case 8001960/2024 · Employment Tribunal
Dr A Kutsawa v Maximus UK Services Ltd — 2025
- Case reference
- 8001960/2024
- Decision date
- 19 May 2025
- Jurisdiction
- Scotland
- Judge
- Employment Judge L Wiseman
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Dr A Kutsawa
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe claimant was employed by the respondent from 17 April 2024 and was dismissed on 1 July 2024, with two weeks' payment in lieu of notice. The tribunal found that the alleged discriminatory acts occurred during employment and culminated in the dismissal, so 1 July 2024 was the latest date from which the Equality Act time limit ran. The claimant contacted ACAS on 19 November 2024 and presented the claim on 25 November 2024, almost two months late.
The tribunal accepted that the claimant had contacted her local MP's office for guidance on 22 July 2024 and was advised to contact ACAS only on 14 November 2024. It found this was the reason for the delay, but concluded that the claimant's ignorance of her tribunal rights and applicable time limits was not reasonable because she had not taken independent steps to research them, despite being frustrated by the delay and having contacted the BMA.
Considering the just and equitable discretion, the tribunal took account of the length and reason for delay, the claimant's evidence, the pleaded weaknesses identified in the claim, and the prejudice to both parties. It concluded that the balance of prejudice lay with the respondent and that it would not be just and equitable to extend time. The tribunal therefore held it had no jurisdiction and struck out the claim.
Claims and outcomes
3 findings recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race discrimination | The direct race discrimination complaint concerned alleged less favourable treatment during employment. It was not determined on the merits because the tribunal found the claim was presented out of time and declined to extend time. | Struck out | Race | — |
| Disability discrimination | The disability discrimination complaint was pleaded as failure to make reasonable adjustments. It was not determined on the merits because the tribunal found the claim was presented out of time and declined to extend time. | Struck out | Disability | — |
| Other | The judgment records that the claimant also complained her dismissal was discriminatory, but the extracted text does not clearly identify whether this was advanced as race discrimination, disability discrimination, or both. It was struck out with the rest of the claim on jurisdictional time-limit grounds. | Struck out | — | — |
Legal tests applied
6 references- section 123 Equality Act
- section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980
- British Coal Corporation v Keeble 1997 IRLR 336
- Southwark London Borough Council v Afolabi 2003 ICR 800
- Adedeji v University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust 2021 ICR 5
- just and equitable
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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