Luke Harrowsmith v Hmi Elements Ltd — 2020

The claimant, Luke Harrowsmith, was employed by Hmi Elements Ltd from 18 April 2018 as an electronic assembly technician. The tribunal recorded that his employment ended on 28 February 2020 according to the respondent, or on 31 March 2020 according to the claimant, after payment in lieu of notice. The claim form presented on 27 April 2020 was treated as a single complaint of unfair dismissal.

At the preliminary hearing, the claimant sought to argue that a Subject Access Request/Enquiry amounted to a public interest disclosure and that he could therefore pursue a claim regardless of his length of service. The tribunal rejected that submission. It found that the ET1 made no reference to any Subject Access Request, no allegation that could be inferred to amount to a protected disclosure, and no pleaded case that the respondent treated him adversely because he had made such a disclosure.

The tribunal applied section 108 ERA 1996 and held that the claimant did not have two years' continuous service ending with the effective date of termination. On the respondent's case, the effective date of termination was 28 February 2020; even on the claimant's case, employment ended on 31 March 2020, before the second anniversary of commencement on 18 April 2018. The judge therefore said there was no alternative but to dismiss the unfair dismissal claim in its entirety.

Although the respondent had warned that it might seek costs, no costs application was before the tribunal and no costs order was made.