Claimant v Edwardian Pastoria Hotels Ltd
Outcome
Individual claims
The claim was struck out because the tribunal found it was vexatious and scandalous. The claimant had covertly recorded every interaction from recruitment onwards with the deliberate purpose of manufacturing an employment dispute and extorting money from the respondent. This was a pre-planned abuse of process, not a genuine attempt to enforce employment rights.
The whistleblowing detriment claim was struck out on the same basis as the dismissal claim: the tribunal found the claimant had deliberately engineered complaints and covertly recorded colleagues to entrap them into saying things he could later use to extort a settlement. The claim was an abuse of process.
The claim involved roughly 60 allegations of race discrimination. The tribunal found the claimant deliberately raised topics of race in conversations to entrap respondent's employees and manufacture discrimination claims. The sheer number of allegations was designed to put the respondent to maximum cost to force a settlement. The claim was vexatious and struck out.
The harassment claim was struck out as part of the overall finding that all claims were vexatious, scandalous and an abuse of process. The claimant's conduct in covertly recording and attempting to entrap colleagues demonstrated the claim was brought to harass the respondent out of an improper motive.
Although the respondent had conceded disability status (Type 2 Diabetes), the disability discrimination claims were struck out as vexatious and scandalous on the same basis as the other claims. The claimant's pre-planned abuse of the tribunal system applied to all heads of claim.
The unlawful deduction of wages complaint was withdrawn by the claimant and dismissed by the tribunal at an earlier stage of proceedings.
Facts
The claimant worked as a Night House Steward for only five days (24-28 July 2023). From his very first contact with the respondent, he covertly recorded every interaction — at least 31 recordings in total. He deliberately raised topics such as race to entrap employees. He was dismissed during his probationary period. Over two months later, he submitted a 27-page grievance demanding £18,000 to settle. The tribunal found he had a pattern of similar behaviour: he had brought multiple previous employment tribunal claims after very short periods of employment, covertly recording colleagues, and either extracting settlements or having claims struck out as vexatious. The tribunal found this was a pre-planned attempt to extort money, not enforce legitimate employment rights.
Decision
The tribunal struck out the entire claim under Rule 37(1)(a) and (b) because it was vexatious and scandalous, and because the claimant's conduct of proceedings was vexatious, unreasonable and scandalous. The claim was a deliberate abuse of process designed to manufacture a dispute and extort money. The claimant had systematically failed to comply with disclosure orders, been evasive and dishonest in evidence, and made unfounded allegations of perjury and misinformation. The tribunal awarded costs of £20,000 against the claimant, despite him claiming limited means, given the serious nature of his conduct.
Practical note
Employment tribunals will strike out claims and award substantial costs where a claimant has systematically abused the tribunal system by engineering disputes through covert recordings and entrapment, particularly where there is evidence of a repeated pattern of such behaviour across multiple employments.
Legal authorities cited
Statutes
Case details
- Case number
- 2216798/2023
- Decision date
- 3 December 2024
- Hearing type
- strike out
- Hearing days
- 1
- Classification
- procedural
Respondent
- Sector
- hospitality
- Represented
- Yes
- Rep type
- barrister
Employment details
- Role
- Night House Steward
Claimant representation
- Represented
- No