Ms N Jobe v Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust HELD by Cloud Video Platform (CVP) in Leeds — 2024

Ms Jobe was dismissed on 21 June 2023, so the three-month time limit for an unfair dismissal claim expired on 20 September 2023. She contacted ACAS on 21 September 2023 and presented her tribunal claim on 29 February 2024. The tribunal recorded that she had been supported by the RCN during the disciplinary and appeal processes and had been told about the need to bring a claim within three months, but it found that she chose not to issue the claim sooner rather than being unaware of the time limit.

The tribunal rejected the claimant’s explanations for the delay. It found no medical evidence showing that her state of mind prevented her from filing in time, noted that her husband’s illness did not prevent presentation within the relevant three months, and found that the eviction relied on by the claimant had occurred in October 2022, well before the dismissal. It also noted that the claimant received permanent accommodation by the end of December 2023, still two months before she issued proceedings.

Applying section 111(2) Employment Rights Act 1996 and the authorities it cited on reasonable practicability, including Dedman, Wall’s Meat, Porter and Sterling, the tribunal held that the claim was not brought within three months, that it was not satisfied it was not reasonably practicable to present the complaint in time, and that the claimant had not discharged the burden of showing why the claim was late. It therefore held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the unfair dismissal complaint and struck it out and dismissed it as applicable.