Did Not Attend For the v Hospitality Accommodation Ltd — 2022

The claimant, Mrs Linda Langley-Carter, was employed by Hospitality Accommodation Limited as a waitress/bar staff from 21 July 1968 until her dismissal by reason of redundancy on 16 September 2020. She brought claims for unfair dismissal arising from that dismissal and for accrued but unpaid holiday pay on termination. The respondent did not attend and the tribunal proceeded under Rule 47 after noting that the respondent appeared to have ceased trading.

The tribunal held that the unfair dismissal claim was subject to the three-month time limit in section 111(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, subject to any extension where it was not reasonably practicable to present the complaint in time. It found that the effective date of termination was 16 September 2020 and that the normal limitation period expired at midnight on 15 December 2020. The claimant did not contact ACAS for early conciliation until 7 January 2021, so she did not benefit from any extension under section 207B.

For the holiday pay claim, the tribunal applied the time limit in Regulation 30(2) of the Working Time Regulations 1998. It noted that the claimant had not attended the hearing and had put forward no grounds to suggest that it was not reasonably practicable to issue proceedings within the relevant time limit. The tribunal referred to authorities including Palmer and Saunders v Southend-on-Sea BC, Porter v Bandridge Ltd, Wall’s Meat Co v Khan, London Underground Ltd v Noel, and Dedman v British Building and Engineering Appliances when considering the reasonably practicable test.

The tribunal concluded that the claimant had not satisfied the statutory test that it was not reasonably practicable to bring the claims in time, nor that they were presented within such further time as was reasonable. It therefore dismissed both the unfair dismissal claim and the accrued holiday pay claim as presented out of time. No monetary award was made.