The claimant alleged disability and age direct discrimination and harassment in respect of matters preceding the termination of her employment. At paragraph 8.1 of the ET1 she ticked the box to show her claim included claims for discrimination and, in respect of the relevant protected characteristic, she ticked age and disability. At para 9.1 in response to the instruction “please tick the relevant box to say what you want if your claim is successful” she ticked the box “if claiming discrimination, a recommendation” and “compensation”. She also made allegations of discrimination arising from disability under s.15 Equality Act 2010. The Claimant made a second claim in which she stated that she already had a claim pending before the Tribunal against the Respondent for age and disability discrimination. In this claim the Claimant stated that she believed that she was unfairly dismissed because she was “still signed off sick” and that that was caused by her employer. Her claims were dismissed and she appealed on the grounds that her disability discrimination claims had not been heard. The Respondent resisted the appeal on the basis that no claim of disability discrimination arising out of dismissal was set out the second claim, List of Issues and nor was any application to amend made.

The EAT allowed the appeal. It was, or should have been clear to the ET, and to the Respondent, that the Claimant was seeking to assert that there was a connection between a potential disability (stress and mental health problems), the impact of those conditions upon her, and her dismissal. Those details should have given the ET and Respondent, an obvious indication that the dismissal concerned an asserted disability and so may have been discriminatory. The Claimant had set out sufficient information to have alerted the ET to her claim that her dismissal was an act of unlawful discrimination. The failure to clarify the position was an error and both the claim of unfair dismissal and of discrimination were remitted.