Mrs M Brown v South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust — 2024

The tribunal first considered what unfair dismissal claims were actually pleaded in claim number 1405808/2023. It held that, although the ET1 was difficult to follow, paragraph 57's reference to Part X of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and to a unilateral demotion on 13 and 14 March 2023 was sufficient to amount to a claim of unfair dismissal in relation to the band 8C Head of Research Operations role.

The tribunal did not find that the ET1 contained an unfair dismissal claim in relation to the band 8A Research and Clinical Audit Manager role. In the pleaded case, that role had been described as having ended lawfully and by agreement. The claimant's later application to add an unfair dismissal claim about the band 8A role was dealt with as a case management amendment rather than as part of the judgment.

On time limits, the tribunal considered the claimant's case at its highest and treated 14 March 2023 as the effective date of termination for the alleged band 8C dismissal. It found that the unfair dismissal claim presented on 8 November 2023 was outside the three-month limit. The tribunal concluded it had been reasonably practicable to present the claim in time, noting that by 12 May 2023 the claimant was already asserting in her grievance that she had been demoted or dismissed unfairly. It also held, in the alternative, that even if the claimant did not have sufficient information until 23 August 2023, the further delay until 8 November 2023 was not a reasonable further period.