Litigant in person v Centrica Storage Ltd — 2020

The claimant's employment ended on 3 December 2018. He had appealed against dismissal before the effective date of termination, raised grievances that were answered on 4 December 2018, and contacted ACAS on 3 December 2018. An ACAS certificate issued on 17 January 2019, and the tribunal recorded that the last date for presenting a claim, allowing for any extension, was 16 April 2019. Wilkin Chapman sent the first claim form by email to the tribunal on 12 April 2019, but the judge held that email was not one of the prescribed methods of presenting an employment tribunal claim.

The tribunal held that the first claim had not been validly presented, but it found that it was not reasonably practicable for the unfair dismissal complaint to be presented within the primary time limit. The claimant had reasonably believed that the first claim had been lodged, had received an acknowledgement email, had used solicitors, and had no reason to know of the problem until he contacted the tribunal on 21 December 2019. After being told that the first claim would have been rejected, he re-presented an identical claim on 24 December 2019, which the tribunal found to be within a reasonable further period.

For the disability discrimination complaints, the tribunal treated the allegations as a continuing act connected with the redundancy process and dismissal. The complaints comprised direct discrimination, discrimination arising from disability and victimisation. It accepted that the discrimination claim was about eight months late, but held that it was just and equitable to extend time under section 123 of the Equality Act 2010. The judge relied on the documented nature of the redundancy process, the continuing availability of key decision-makers, the prompt action taken once the error was discovered, and the overall fairness of allowing the claims to proceed. These were preliminary jurisdiction findings only; the merits of unfair dismissal and disability discrimination were not decided.