Mr J Chumber v Ridge Concrete Limited — 2020

Mr J Chumber worked for Ridge Concrete Limited as a driver from 1 July 2018 until 31 January 2020. He went through ACAS early conciliation between 5 and 24 February 2020. His first ET1, presented on 24 April 2020, named "Kanwar Shaker Chander Sharma" rather than the respondent named on the ACAS certificate, and was rejected on 24 June 2020 because the respondent name did not match. A second ET1 was then presented on 26 June 2020 and was accepted by the tribunal.

The tribunal addressed the limitation issue under section 23(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, applying the authorities it cited, including Bodha, Walls Meat v Khan, and Adams v British Telecommunications Plc. It accepted the claimant's evidence that he believed he had correctly completed the first claim, understood the ET1 to ask for the name of his employer or the person he was claiming against, and did not appreciate the distinction between a natural person and a legal person. The tribunal also recorded that he had been in hospital from 14 to 18 February 2020 and had taken pain medication afterwards, although it had no further evidence about the effect of that medication.

The tribunal said it would not, within this hearing, revisit the original rejection decision of its own initiative and confined itself to the statutory time limit question. On the facts it found that the claimant's misunderstanding was genuine and reasonable, that there was an impediment which reasonably prevented or interfered with timely presentation, and that it was not reasonably practicable to present the corrected claim within the primary time limit. It further found that the second ET1 was presented within two days of the rejection notice, which was within a reasonable period. Time was therefore extended to 26 June 2020 for the unlawful deduction of wages claim, which was allowed to proceed to a full hearing.