The Claimant is vulnerable and has mental health conditions. He brought a first claim alleging unfair dismissal. It was dismissed because it was submitted out of time. The Claimant brought a second claim alleging sex discrimination. A Preliminary Hearing was held to consider whether the second claim also included a claim of disability discrimination and whether the claim of sex discrimination was an abuse of process. The Claimant's second claim was dismissed as it did not include a claim of disability discrimination, the Claimant could not add a claim of disability discrimination to the second claim, and the bringing of a claim of sex discrimination was an abuse of process. The Claimant appealed.

The appeal was allowed. The Preliminary Hearing was not conducted in a manner that was unfair. The EJ correctly concluded that the first claim did not include a claim of disability discrimination. The EJ, however, erred in law in his approach to abuse of process which resulted in the dismissal of the sex discrimination claim, and was the primary reason for the refusal of the application to amend the second claim to add a claim of disability discrimination. The matter was remitted to the ET.