Tribunal procedures

* A tribunal was entitled to refuse to extend the time limit for amending a claim for unfair dismissal to include one of disability discrimination.

The facts

Mr Bowman issued an unfair dismissal claim within three months of his dismissal. A trade union representative completed his application to the tribunal on his behalf.

Bowman later instructed solicitors to act for him; six months after his dismissal, they asked the tribunal to amend his claim to include a claim of disability discrimination.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that the tribunal was entitled to refuse to amend the application. The original application was a "model" one, completed by a competent and experienced officer who would have included a disability discrimination claim had Bowman brought this to his attention.

The EAT also noted that Bowman would have known about the Disability Discrimination Act, as his job had been with a charity which placed disabled people in the workplace.

Bowman v ITO (Watford) UKEAT/0127/04