Bracewell v Securicor Guarding Limited

Employment tribunals have jurisdiction over specified employment matters, including unfair dismissal and discrimination, but their powers do not extend to determining ordinary personal injury claims. A claim for damages for workplace injury must therefore be brought in the ordinary courts. Where an Employment Tribunal strikes out such a claim for want of jurisdiction, and the Employment Appeal Tribunal upholds that decision, permission to appeal will be refused where no arguable basis for intervention is shown.

Mr Bracewell, a security guard employed by Securicor Guarding Limited, alleged that he injured his knee during work. After settling proceedings concerning his dismissal through ACAS conciliation, he brought a personal injury claim before the Employment Tribunal.

The Employment Tribunal struck out the claim, holding that it had no jurisdiction to hear a personal injury claim. The Employment Appeal Tribunal dismissed his appeal at a preliminary hearing on 26 March 2001. Mr Bracewell applied to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal. The central issue was whether the employment tribunals had jurisdiction to determine his personal injury claim and whether there was an arguable basis for intervention.

1. Application refused. Lord Justice Pill refused permission to appeal. He agreed with the comprehensive reasoning of Mr Recorder Burke QC in the Employment Appeal Tribunal and considered that the application was doomed to failure.
2. Employment tribunals were established to determine specific employment matters, including unfair dismissal and racial and sexual discrimination. Their powers did not include jurisdiction to resolve ordinary personal injury claims.
3. The proper forum for a personal injury claim was the ordinary court. The Employment Tribunal had therefore correctly concluded that it lacked jurisdiction and had properly struck out the claim.
4. The applicant’s reliance on Acts of Parliament and the Convention on Human Rights did not disclose an arguable basis for intervention. The Court’s conclusion did not criticise the applicant’s service to his employer or cast doubt on the disability he described.

The application for permission to appeal was refused.

• Court of Appeal (Civil Division): On 31 July 2001, permission to appeal from the Employment Appeal Tribunal was refused.
• Employment Appeal Tribunal: At a preliminary hearing on 26 March 2001, the appeal against the Employment Tribunal’s decision was dismissed.
• Employment Tribunal, London South: Reasons sent on 20 September 2000. The tribunal struck out the personal injury claim for want of jurisdiction.