Case 2201561/2020 · Employment Tribunal
Mr S Ahmed v F&I Online Limited, formerly known as Carfinance Plan Limited — 2020
- Case reference
- 2201561/2020
- Decision date
- 29 May 2020
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge Palca
- Venue
- London Central
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Mr S Ahmed
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningMr S Ahmed worked for F&I Online Limited, formerly Carfinance Plan Limited, from 2 August 2018 until his employment ended on 27 January 2020. He brought complaints of unlawful deductions from wages and failure to pay untaken holiday entitlement, including alleged non-payment of January 2020 salary and December 2019 commission. The tribunal identified the issues as jurisdiction, unauthorised deductions, holiday pay, and whether he was entitled to additional compensation because he borrowed money after non-payment.
The tribunal found that the relevant sums were due on 31 January 2020, that early conciliation ran from 4 February 2020 to 4 March 2020, and that the claims should have been presented in proper form by 29 May 2020. Mr Ahmed had correctly named his employer in the ACAS process, but his ET1 of 15 March 2020 named the director instead of the corporate employer and was rejected on 29 June 2020. He then resubmitted the form on 6 July 2020, which the tribunal treated as presented on 10 July 2020.
Applying the statutory time-limit provisions for unlawful deductions and holiday pay, and the rule that time spent in early conciliation is ignored, the tribunal held that it had been reasonably practicable for the claimant to have submitted a correct ET1 before the deadline. The tribunal noted that the claimant knew the identity of his employer, had already identified the cause of action in time, and did not rely on illness or any other impediment preventing proper presentation. It also observed that the delay in the tribunal's rejection notice was unfortunate in light of the pandemic, but that this did not change the jurisdictional conclusion.
Because the claims were not presented in proper form within time and the tribunal was not satisfied that it had been impossible or not reasonably practicable to do so, the tribunal struck out the claims for lack of jurisdiction. No substantive determination was made on the alleged underpayment or holiday entitlement, and no monetary award was made.
Claims and outcomes
2 findings recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlawful deduction from wages | The claim covered alleged non-payment of January 2020 salary and commission earned in December 2019. The tribunal struck it out because the ET1 in proper form was presented out of time and it was reasonably practicable to have presented it within time. | Struck out | — | — |
| Holiday pay | The claim concerned unpaid untaken holiday entitlement on termination. The tribunal struck it out on the same jurisdictional time-limit ground, finding that it was reasonably practicable to have presented the claim in proper form within the primary limitation period. | Struck out | — | — |
Legal tests applied
3 references- reasonably practicable test
- s207B ERA 1996
- Reg 14 Working Time Regulations 1998
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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