The Claimant, an agency worker, asserted that his employment had been terminated, and he brought claims in the ET against the Respondent for race discrimination, a redundancy payment, and other payments. A Case Management Hearing identified issues to be considered at a Preliminary Hearing, including whether the Claimant was an employee or worker of the Respondent, whether the Claimant's engagement had been terminated and, if so, by whom, and whether the person alleged to have racially discriminated against the Claimant was an employee or agent of the Respondent. At the Preliminary Hearing, the ET, having dismissed the redundancy payment claim, concluded that it could not determine the issues without joining additional parties as respondents. The Respondent appealed on various grounds, including that the ET erred in deciding not to determine the issues before it, but instead to join other respondents before doing so.

The EAT held that the ET's decision not to determine the issues had been wrong, without at least considering whether there had been a material change of circumstances since the Case Management Hearing decision and/or that there were other exceptional reasons to depart from it, since the decision was a significant one involving a material change of direction. As regards the racial discrimination claim, the EAT substituted a determination that the Respondent was not liable in that respect. Accordingly, the appeal was allowed and the other matters would be remitted to a fresh ET.