In person For the v Mr D Hogg of the Respondent — 2021

This was a preliminary hearing on whether the claimant’s unfair dismissal claim was presented in time. The claimant had been employed by Serco Limited as a Regional Operations Manager from 12 June 2006 until dismissal by reason of redundancy effective on 28 August 2020. She did not appeal. She first contacted ACAS on 28 October 2020, received an Early Conciliation Certificate on 28 November 2020, and presented the tribunal claim on 11 March 2021.

The tribunal held that the ordinary three-month time limit under section 111(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 expired at midnight on 27 November 2020, and that the early conciliation provisions under section 207B extended that deadline to 28 December 2020. The claim was therefore at least 10 weeks out of time. The tribunal referred to the authorities on the meaning of "reasonably practicable", including Palmer and Saunders v Southend-on-Sea BC, Porter v Bandridge Ltd, Wall’s Meat Co v Khan, London Underground Ltd v Noel, Dedman v British Building and Engineering Appliances, Cullinane v Balfour Beattie Engineering Services Ltd, and Wolverhampton University v Elbeltagi.

On the facts found, the tribunal accepted that the claimant had researched the position, knew there were time limits, and knew she needed an ACAS Early Conciliation Certificate. It rejected her contention that she had been confused into thinking no tribunal claim needed to be issued until conciliation was complete, and found there was no impediment preventing her from presenting the claim in time. It also found that, even if that were wrong, she had been told by ACAS in January 2021 to submit the claim because of the time limits, but still did not do so until 11 March 2021. The unfair dismissal claim was therefore dismissed as out of time.