Claimant v Lawson v Lawson Civil Engineering and Utilities Ltd Ltd — 2022

At the preliminary hearing, the tribunal considered whether the claimants' unfair dismissal complaints were presented in time under section 111(2)(a) and (b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The parties agreed that the effective date of termination was 13 October 2020, when the dismissal letters were received, so the three-month time limit expired on 12 January 2021.

The tribunal found that the claim forms were not received by the employment tribunal until 7 September 2021 and were therefore outside the primary limitation period. It rejected the claimants' reliance on the statutory extension for cases where it was 'not reasonably practicable' to present the complaints in time. The judge found no evidence that the claimants were prevented from lodging the claims by illness or incapacity, and noted that they had consulted a Citizens' Advice Bureau shortly after dismissal and were aware they may have unfair dismissal claims, but had not investigated the procedure or time limits.

The tribunal also noted that an attempted submission on 18 January 2021 was already out of time, and that the claimants did not begin ACAS early conciliation until 9 April 2021, with certificates issued on 12 April 2021. The judge concluded that this further delay was not reasonable and dismissed the unfair dismissal claims for lack of jurisdiction. The claims for unpaid holiday, notice and arrears of pay were not determined in this judgment and were said to be subject to further case management orders.