Mr W Mackie v Cheshire East Council — 2020

Mr W Mackie had been employed by Cheshire East Council since 6 June 2006 as a Civil Enforcement Parking Officer. After management instructions were issued in November 2018 and July 2019, he raised a grievance on 12 October 2019. He emailed his resignation on 4 November 2019, later sought to retract it, and the respondent treated his last day of employment as 30 November 2019.

The tribunal found that the effective date of termination was 30 November 2019. On that basis, the three-month time limit under section 111(2)(a) ERA 1996 expired on 29 February 2020. The claim was not issued until 6 May 2020, so it was out of time.

The tribunal rejected the argument that it had not been reasonably practicable to present the claim in time. It found that the claimant had support from his trade union and had received a letter from Union Line on 19 February 2020 explaining that he needed to start early conciliation and present any claim by 29 February 2020. Although he said he found the letter difficult to understand, the tribunal was not satisfied that he had a learning disability, and it relied on a prior assessment which recorded capacity to litigate and instruct. The tribunal also found that the claimant and his mother made a conscious decision to wait for the grievance outcome rather than act on the advice he had received.

Even if it had been wrong about reasonable practicability, the tribunal held that the claimant waited too long after the grievance outcome was issued on 22 April 2020 and after early conciliation started on 4 May 2020. The tribunal therefore held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the unfair dismissal claim and dismissed it.