Mr Andrew Bickle v West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service — 2022

At a preliminary hearing on 28 July 2022, Employment Judge R S Drake considered the respondent's application to strike out the claimant's unfair dismissal claim. The tribunal went through the ET1 with the claimant and noted that he confirmed his employment ended by resignation, not by an express dismissal by the respondent. The claim was presented as a pure and simple unfair dismissal claim, and the tribunal found it had no reasonable prospect of success because the claimant did not have two years' qualifying service with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The claimant argued that service with another fire authority should count as continuous service. The respondent submitted that Norfolk Fire Service was a separate authority and statutory entity, and referred to the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment Modification) Order 1999. The tribunal accepted that argument to the extent that the modification order deems continuity for redundancy purposes, but not for employment protection rights under Part X of the ERA. On that basis, the tribunal found the claimant could not rely on his earlier Norfolk service to satisfy s.108(1) ERA 1996, and the unfair dismissal claim was struck out. No monetary remedy was awarded.