During the course of case management of a claim for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, the Employment Tribunal considered applications to amend the claim to pursue claims for (a) unpaid annual leave under the WTR 1998; (b) unlawful deduction from wages and (c) breach of contract.
The Tribunal allowed the amendment in respect of the annual leave claim, subject to the Respondent’s right to argue the claim was out of time at the final hearing. The Claimant appealed on the basis that the claim was extant in the claim form, and the Employment Judge had erred in departing from an earlier case management decision, the effect of which was that the claim was extant and in time.
Held, dismissing the appeal on this ground: Although the Claim Form made reference to the Working Time Regulations 1998 there was no reference to an annual leave claim; the only facts which could have supported a claim under the Regulations was a complaint of breach of the Claimant’s entitlement to daily rest. The Tribunal was entitled to treat the matter as requiring amendment: there was no extant claim for annual leave. To commence a particular claim, it is not enough simply to refer to a statute or set of regulations. Properly construed, the earlier case management decision made no ruling as to whether the claim was extant, or whether the claim was in time.
The Tribunal refused permission to amend to introduce the claims for unlawful deduction and breach of contract. The appeal challenged those decisions.
Held, dismissing the appeal on these grounds: the Tribunal had identified the correct legal principles, summarised the facts, evaluated those facts and reached conclusions on balance having consideration to all the factors it addressed. The reasoning was clear and the decision in no way perverse.
Judges:
Gavin Mansfield QC, Deputy Judge of the High Court
Citations:
[2021] UKEAT 2020-000274
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 14 June 2022; Ref: scu.678249