Discrimination against employee
Outcome:
The Claimant’s second claim (223/25) was struck out as an abuse of process. The Tribunal held the discrimination complaints should have been added to the existing claim (99/25), rather than brought as new proceedings.
Key findings:
- The Henderson v Henderson principle applied: parties must bring their whole case at once.
- The discrimination allegations arose from the same facts as the unfair dismissal claim.
- The alleged discrimination became apparent while the first claim was still ongoing.
- An amendment to the original claim was available and would have been straightforward.
- A second claim caused unnecessary duplication and fragmentation.
- The claims were not genuinely new matters arising after the first proceedings ended.
Lessons learned:
- Tribunal discourages fragmented litigation: Claimants should, where possible, include all related claims in a single set of proceedings and amend existing claims rather than issue fresh ones.
- Claimants who become aware of additional claims during proceedings should act promptly within that claim.
