Assessing reasonable prospects of success

Case 3: The facts

Mr Dolby, a prison officer was about to be disciplined when he resigned and submitted a constructive dismissal claim. His employers applied to the tribunal for the claim to be dismissed. The employment tribunal decided that it could not do this because the rules limited it to dismissing claims only when they were incorrectly submitted.

The ruling

The EAT held that the tribunal had misunderstood the rules. A tribunal could strike out an application where it believed there was no reasonable prospect of success. All that is required to meet this test is that the tribunal has formed a view of the chances of the claim being successful.

* HM Prison Service v Dolby [2003] IRLR 694