Mr T White v Ringwood Body Consultancy Limited — 2023

Mr T White brought a claim for alleged arrears of pay, commission and holiday pay, pleaded as unlawful deduction from wages. The tribunal treated the hearing as a preliminary issue on limitation and jurisdiction because the limitation period, taking account of ACAS Early Conciliation, had expired on 8 February 2022, but the claim was not presented until 20 April 2022.

Applying s.23 ERA 1996, the tribunal referred to Wall's Meat Co Ltd v Khan, Porter v Bandridge Ltd and Dedman v British Building and Engineering Appliances. It held that the burden was on the claimant to show it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim in time, and noted the stricter approach applicable to this statutory test compared with the wider discretion used in discrimination claims.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had taken early advice from an employment solicitor and had entered ACAS Early Conciliation shortly before the original deadline, but it rejected his evidence that ACAS told him they would bring or process the claim, or that he could wait for the tribunal to contact him. It found that he had ample opportunity to check the position for himself, including by consulting the ACAS website, and that he ought to have known the claim still had to be presented by the deadline.

The tribunal further held that, even if it had been wrong about reasonable practicability, the claimant still failed to present the claim within any further reasonable period. He delayed about two and a half months after 8 February 2022, and the tribunal found that his decision to put the claim on the back burner while prioritising work in Dubai meant the claim could not proceed. The claim was therefore dismissed for want of jurisdiction.