Noel McParland v Northern Ireland Ambulance Service

The two issues were:

a) Whether a policy adopted by the respondent whereby all leavers of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) were required to go through a recruitment process as a condition of re-joining the service constituted unlawful indirect discrimination on grounds of age and; 

b) Whether the tribunal had jurisdiction to deal with the claim, given that the claimant lodged his claim outside the three month time-limit for bringing such a claim. 

The claimant was employed as a Paramedic Supervisor for almost 26 years when he retired. He indicated his interest in retirement but was told that he could return to work part-time, but technically he would not have retired and