No duty upon the Tribunal to consolidate claims so that they would be against a separate respondent.

The claimant was employed as a consultant cardiologist by the Trust.  In 2012 she reported an incident of clinical concern and following it she was subject to allegations of clinical concern in her own practice. This led to a Maintaining High Professional Standards process.  The claimant brought sex discrimination claims which were dismissed and ordered to pay costs. A second set of proceedings were brought relating to race and sex discrimination, victimisation, harassment and whistleblowing.

As part of these claims – there was one in which the second respondent sought to have it struck out as it disclosed no cause of action against her and no reasonable prospect of success.  This went to preliminary hearing where the second respondent stated it was not particularised and the claim related to the dismissal which came after the second respondent started her employment. As a result, the claim was struck out at the preliminary hearing.

The claimant appealed the decision stating that the claim should have been able to continue against the respondent. It was argued that the previous claim was made against the Trust and therefore the struck out claim should be regarded as being against the Trust. The EAT held that it was not an error of law and there was no requirement for the Employment Judge to consolidate claims with the effect of allowing the struck out claim to be against another party. As a result, the appeal was dismissed.

This is a case relating to the procedure of the Tribunal especially as it pertains to situations concerning multiple claims. The EAT making it clear that there is no onus on the Tribunal to seek to consolidate claims and allow them to be put against another party who is subject to the overall global proceedings.

You can read the case in full here.