Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland

Case Summary

A preliminary hearing to determine jurisdiction and procedural matters in a discrimination claim by a police sergeant against the Police Service of Scotland. The tribunal dismissed certain time-barred claims, granted in part an application to amend the claim, and dismissed allegations on grounds of res judicata. The claimant was permitted to pursue claims relating to sex discrimination (11 April 2025) and disability discrimination (1 April 2025) as they fell just outside the statutory time limit and the tribunal exercised its just and equitable discretion.

The tribunal found that several of the claimant's allegations were substantially out of time (dating back to 2018, 2022, January 2024, and September 2024) and lacked convincing explanation for the delay, making it prejudicial for the respondent to have to defend claims arising from events 12 months or more before presentation. However, claims relating to 11 April 2025 (sex discrimination) and 1 April 2025 (disability discrimination) were permitted to proceed as they fell only one day outside the statutory time limit, the claimant had provided an explanation (attempting internal resolution), and the tribunal considered it was in the interests of justice to exercise its discretionary power under the just and equitable jurisdiction.

Use these claim-type pages to compare this decision with other published tribunal cases, outcome patterns, and visible award data.

• •Time-bar jurisdiction - whether claims are time-barred under employment law statutory time limits
• •Application to amend claim dated 28 October 2025 - granted in part
• •Application to amend claim dated 14 March 2026 - refused entirely
• •Res judicata - whether allegations previously judicially determined should be dismissed
• •Just and equitable discretion - whether to allow out-of-time claims to proceed
• •Continuing acts doctrine - whether disability discrimination complaints constitute continuing acts

ETZ4(WR) EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 8002179/2025 Preliminary Hearing at Glasgow on 30 March 2026 Employment Judge M A Macleod Mr G Lambie Claimant In Person Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland Respondent Represented by: Dr A Gibson, Solicitor JUDGMENT OF THE EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL The Judgment of the Employment Tribunal is: (1) That the Tribunal lacks jurisdiction to hear some of the claimant’s claims and they are therefore dismissed, being time-barred; (2) That the claimant’s application to amend his claim dated 28 October 2025 is granted, in part, and his application to amend his claim dated 14 March 2026 is refused in its entirety; and (3) That the two allegations identified by the respondent as having been raised and judicially determined before are dismissed on the grounds of res judicata. 8002179/2025 Page 2 REASONS 1. In this case, a Preliminary Hearing was listed to take place on 16 March 2026 in the Employment Tribunal, Glasgow. However, very shortly before that Hearing was due to commence, the claimant had presented a further application to amend his claim, and accordingly the Hearing was postponed, and relisted for 30 March 2026 in order to consider that and the other outstanding issues before the Tribunal. 2. Following the postponement of that Hearing, the Tribunal wrote to the parties to advise that the following issues would be addressed at this Hearing: 1. The Hearing listed to take place on today’s date is adjourned, and will be reconvened at 10am on Monday 30 March 2026 in the Employment Tribunal, Glasgow, for the duration of 1 day; 2. The Hearing will address the following issues: a. Whether the claimant's claim, or any part of it, is time-barred, and if so, whether the Tribunal should exercise i…