ETZ 4(WR) EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 8002179/2025 Preliminary Hearing at Glasgow on March 2026 Employment Judge M A Macleod Mr G Lambie v The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland — 2026

At a preliminary hearing, the Tribunal determined limitation, two applications to amend and res judicata; it did not decide the merits of the claims. It treated Employment Judge Hoey's October 2025 Preliminary Hearing Note as the authoritative record of the complaints and refused Mr Lambie's request to alter, remove or review that record.

The direct sex discrimination allegation concerning 11 April 2025 and the direct disability discrimination allegation concerning 1 April 2025 were each presented one day late. The Tribunal permitted both to proceed because the delay was negligible and, having considered Mr Lambie's explanation that he had sought to resolve matters internally, found it just and equitable to extend time. Direct disability discrimination allegations concerning events in 2018, 2022, January 2024 and September 2024 were dismissed as time-barred. The alleged exclusion from portfolios involving partnerships between February 2024 and September 2025 was permitted to proceed, with limitation reserved so that the final Tribunal could determine whether there had been a series of continuing acts.

Under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010, allegations concerning 25 October 2022, 17 January 2024 and September 2024 were dismissed as time-barred, while allegations concerning the promotion sift on 1 April 2025 and exclusion from partnership portfolios were permitted to proceed. The section 19 indirect discrimination claims, concerning alleged PCPs applied from January to April 2025 and the divisional sift on 1 April 2025, were also permitted to proceed. The October 2025 amendment relating to those PCPs was allowed in part, but proposed allegations 4 and 7 were refused because they were presented well out of time.

The reasonable-adjustments claim was permitted to proceed with limitation reserved for the final hearing. Applying the approach discussed in The Scottish Ministers v Blair, the Tribunal observed that a failure to make reasonable adjustments is not itself a continuing act and that time ordinarily runs from the expiry of the period within which the employer might reasonably have been expected to make an adjustment. The pleadings did not make sufficiently clear when the adjustments other than glasses supplied on 19 March 2025 should have been implemented, so factual findings were required before limitation could be decided.

The Tribunal granted the October 2025 application to add a victimisation claim based on alleged protected acts between 8 April and 15 May 2025, finding that comparative prejudice and the interests of justice favoured allowing it to proceed. The protected-disclosure detriment allegations identified as 1.1 to 1.9 were also permitted to proceed, with disputed limitation questions reserved until after evidence. The respondent accepted that the disclosure of 18 May 2018 was protected but disputed the alleged disclosure of 8 April 2025; those underlying issues were not determined at this hearing.