Mr James Nash v Respondent — 2019

Mr James Nash presented an ET1 against ISS Facility Services Limited on 22 June 2019. The form said he had been unfairly dismissed and sought holiday pay and overtime payments as unlawful deductions from wages. ACAS early conciliation had begun on 17 June 2019 but was not concluded until 24 June 2019, and the ET1 did not include an ACAS certificate number. The claimant had ticked the exemption box, but the tribunal found that explanation was incorrect on the facts found.

Employment Judge Beard accepted that the claimant was a lay person and had difficulty with the procedural requirements, but held that section 18A of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 and Rules 10 and 12 of the Employment Tribunal Rules 2013 left no discretion. Because the claim form was lodged before conciliation ended and without a certificate number, the tribunal rejected the claim and held that it had no jurisdiction to hear it. The extracted judgment also contains a numbered paragraph referring to section 111(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, but the reasons deal with the early conciliation defect.