Mr D Perks v East London Science School Trust — 2022

Mr Perks presented his claim on 13 March 2022 after his employment ended on 18 October 2021. The tribunal found that the ordinary three-month time limit for unfair dismissal expired on 17 January 2022 and that he did not benefit from the ACAS conciliation extension because he did not contact ACAS until 25 January 2022. The tribunal therefore considered whether time should be extended under s111(2)(b) Employment Rights Act 1996 on the basis that it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim in time.

The tribunal rejected that argument. It found that Mr Perks knew on 18 October 2021 that he was resigning with immediate effect and treating himself as constructively dismissed, that he had advice from Mr Harris of United Voices of the World, and that he was not said to have been ill or incapacitated. The tribunal accepted that he had decided not to bring a claim at that stage because he wished to preserve a separate working relationship connected to a science project, but it held that this did not make it not reasonably practicable to present the unfair dismissal claim within the time limit.

The tribunal also found that the later post-employment disciplinary process did not change the position, because the claim had already crystallised on the claimant's own account as a constructive dismissal in October 2021. It concluded that the claimant only changed his mind about litigating when he was invited to a disciplinary meeting by letter dated 24 January 2022, by which point the claim was already out of time. The unfair dismissal claim was therefore dismissed for want of jurisdiction. The race discrimination claim was recorded as withdrawn, and the listed January 2024 hearing would not go ahead.