E.T. Z (WR) EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 8001997/2024 (V)5 Held on February 2025 and April 2025 Employment Judge J M Hendry Mrs J Fryer v Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd — 2025

The tribunal heard a strike-out application under Rule 38(1)(a) and also considered the claimant's proposed amendment. It recorded that the claimant could not bring unfair dismissal or constructive unfair dismissal claims because she did not have two years' qualifying service, and treated the live case as a breach of contract claim based on being asked to do work said to be outside her job description and on the way she was treated between June and September 2024.

On the express-term case, the tribunal relied on the claimant's contract and job description, which stated that her job title conveyed the broad nature of the work and that she could be required to work in other functional areas as required. It found that the claimant, employed as a Procurement Advisor, was given a lawful instruction within her contractual duties when asked to assist with procurement work for other parts of the business. It therefore held that there was no arguable breach of an express term and struck that claim out as having no reasonable prospect of success.

On the implied term of trust and confidence, the tribunal accepted that the pleaded material left open the possibility of an arguable breach, including the claimant's account of reassurances, restructuring, stress and sickness absence. It then held that any claim for psychiatric injury was outside the jurisdiction of the employment tribunal under the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (Scotland) Order 1994, and that such a claim could not be cured by amendment. It also held that a claim for loss of wages or other contingent post-termination losses could not be determined by the tribunal. The implied-term claim and the loss-of-wages head were therefore struck out, and no monetary award was made.