Ms K Reaney v NV Projects Ltd Heard: via Cloud Video Platform in the North East Region — 2023

Ms K Reaney brought a claim for unpaid wages against NV Projects Ltd, the legal entity behind the trading name 'So Famous'. The tribunal amended the respondent's name to NV Projects Ltd. The claim form and later correspondence indicated that the amount claimed was £628.32, and the hearing proceeded as a preliminary hearing on time limits rather than on the merits of the wage claim.

The tribunal found that the claimant worked for the respondent from 11 February 2022 until 31 March 2022 and was due to be paid on or around the end of that period. She was not paid and repeatedly chased her manager, Ben, between April and July 2022. The tribunal accepted that she was repeatedly told she would be paid shortly, and that in June and July she was told Ben no longer worked for the respondent and that a work group had been set up to deal with unpaid wages.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant was 16 during the relevant period, was taking GCSEs, was not aware of the existence of tribunal time limits, and believed for a time that a group claim was being brought on her behalf. It held that, in those circumstances, it was not reasonably practicable for her to present the claim within the three-month primary time limit under section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

However, the tribunal found that she did not present the claim as soon as reasonably practicable after that time limit had expired. By the end of September 2022 she knew no group claim was being brought for her, but she did not contact ACAS until 14 October 2022 and did not present the claim until 1 November 2022. The tribunal therefore held that the claim was out of time and that it had no jurisdiction to hear it.