Mr Roxborough (counsel) For the v Respondent — 2024

At a preliminary hearing on 3 July 2024 before Employment Judge Davies, the tribunal considered whether Mr S Harker's unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal claims had been presented in time. The respondents disputed the date on which employment ended, saying 27 July 2023, while the claimant said 25 July 2023. The tribunal also recorded that the claimant contacted ACAS on 29 August 2023 in relation to the first respondent and on 31 July 2023 in relation to the second respondent, and obtained the relevant early conciliation certificates on 31 August 2023 and 2 August 2023.

The claimant's representatives said that, because the online claim submission service was not functioning in early September 2023, they attempted to present the claim by post to the Employment Tribunal Central Office in Leicester. They produced proof of posting, proof of delivery showing delivery on 13 September 2023 and signature that day, and email correspondence confirming that the claim had been sent and later enquiring what had happened to it after it appeared not to have been processed.

Employment Judge Davies was satisfied that a hard copy claim was properly presented to the Central Office on 13 September 2023. The judge said that the fact the claim form later went missing did not change that position. The judgment cites Tribunal Rule 90, under which a document delivered by post is deemed received on the day on which it would ordinarily be delivered unless the contrary is proved. The judgment did not determine the merits of the underlying unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal claims; it resolved only the time-limit issue.