Mr A Brown v Nodewell Farm Partners — 2023

At a preliminary hearing in Bristol via video on 3 January 2023 before Employment Judge Cuthbert, the tribunal dealt first with the respondent's limitation objection. The claimant said he had worked for the partnership for many years and brought claims for unfair dismissal, unpaid holiday pay, a redundancy payment, and unpaid wages or notice pay. The respondent's case was that he had never been employed by it.

The tribunal found that Acas early conciliation ran from 20 April 2022 to 22 April 2022, that the ET1 was posted on 20 May 2022 and received by the tribunal on 23 May 2022, and that the relevant deadline was 22 May 2022. Applying section 111 ERA 1996 and the section 207B early conciliation extension, and referring to authorities including Wall's Meat Co v Khan, Porter v Bandridge Ltd, Palmer, Asda Stores Ltd v Kauser, Reed In Partnership Ltd v Fraine and Wolverhampton University v Elbeltagi, the tribunal held that the claim was one day late.

The claimant said he believed he had until 28 May 2022 and relied on his anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and previous tribunal experience, but the tribunal found that the lateness resulted from a mistaken understanding of the deadline rather than any health-related impediment. It held that it was reasonably practicable to present the claim in time, did not need to decide the second-stage reasonableness question, and dismissed all claims as out of time. It did not determine employment status or the merits, and no monetary award was made.