Claimant v National Oilwell Varco UK Limited
Outcome
Individual claims
The substantive claim for constructive unfair dismissal remains live and has not yet been heard on its merits. This preliminary hearing dealt only with the claimant's application to amend to add discrimination claims, which was refused.
Facts
The claimant, a Polish engineer, resigned on 29 May 2024 following difficulties with management including being placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP), issues with holiday requests, and grievance handling. He filed a claim for constructive unfair dismissal on 9 August 2024. He then made two separate applications to amend his claim to add race discrimination complaints, first on 15 October 2024 (claiming discrimination by perception as an 'outsider'), and again on 24 November 2024 (claiming direct and indirect race discrimination based on Polish nationality). Both amendment applications were refused.
Decision
The tribunal refused the claimant's second application to amend his claim to add race discrimination allegations. The judge found the proposed claims were out of time, lacked reasonable prospects of success as the claimant could point to no evidence from which race could be inferred as a motive for treatment, would cause significant prejudice to the respondent through increased complexity and cost, and the balance of hardship favoured the respondent. The constructive dismissal claim remains to be heard.
Practical note
An application to add out-of-time discrimination claims will be refused where the claimant cannot identify facts from which discrimination could be inferred beyond mere differences in treatment, particularly where allowing the amendment would significantly increase the complexity and cost of defending the proceedings.
Legal authorities cited
Statutes
Case details
- Case number
- 8001205/2024
- Decision date
- 20 February 2025
- Hearing type
- preliminary
- Hearing days
- 1
- Classification
- contested
Respondent
- Sector
- energy
- Represented
- Yes
- Rep type
- solicitor
Employment details
- Role
- Engineer
Claimant representation
- Represented
- No