Ms Daniela Serban v Sargents Bakeries Ltd PRELIMINARY HEARING — 2021

At a remote preliminary hearing before Employment Judge R S Drake sitting alone, the tribunal considered Ms Daniela Serban's complaints of direct religious discrimination, harassment, and unfair dismissal against Sargents Bakeries Ltd. The tribunal found that the last date of any alleged act was 19 December 2019. On that basis, the primary limitation periods expired on 18 March 2020, but ACAS early conciliation was not started until 29 May 2020 and the tribunal claim was not presented until 13 November 2020.

For the Equality Act complaints, the tribunal applied the section 123 EqA 2010 time-limit test and referred to the authorities it listed, including Dedman, Palmer & Saunders, British Coal v Keeble, Robertson, Simms v Transco, Afolabi, and DCA v Jones. It found that Ms Serban had access to union advice before the primary period expired, that she was capable of using IT and researching her position, and that she had received responses to her grievances by 20 February 2020. The tribunal did not accept that there was a satisfactory explanation for the delay, found no obstacle created by the Respondent, and concluded that a 240-day delay beyond the primary period was not just and equitable to extend.

The tribunal therefore dismissed the discrimination complaint as out of time and outside its jurisdiction. For unfair dismissal, it applied section 111(2) ERA 1996 and held that Ms Serban had not shown it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim within the primary period, so the claim had to be struck out. No monetary remedy was awarded because all claims failed at the preliminary time-limit stage.