In person v Ms A Rokad - Counsel — 2019

This was a reserved judgment after an open preliminary hearing to decide whether the claimant's unfair dismissal, unlawful deduction from wages, and discrimination claims were out of time. The claim form had first been lodged on 16 November 2018 and rejected on 13 December 2018 for lack of an ACAS certificate number. The tribunal heard evidence and found that the defect was rectified only when the application for reconsideration was made on 15 January 2019, not on 23 December 2018 or 1 May 2019 as the claimant said.

Applying the earlier ruling on rule 13(4) and section 207B ERA, the tribunal held that the claim had to be treated as presented on 15 January 2019, which was four days after the 11 January 2019 deadline. It accepted that the claimant had a genuine reason for delaying the original claim while his appeal was ongoing, but it found no good reason for waiting a further month after rejection to correct the defect. The tribunal also noted that the claimant had access to Unison, Citizens' Advice, a Law Centre, and help from a friend and nephew, so it was reasonably practicable to present a timely unfair dismissal claim.

The unlawful deduction from wages claim was treated the same way on time limits, and the tribunal noted that the last possible deduction had been in April 2017, making that claim substantially out of time. For the discrimination claims, the tribunal recorded that the claimant said he did not wish to proceed with the disability claim and that he was not alleging mistreatment because of his back problem. It also found that he could not give a cogent explanation for saying the dismissal was because of race or religion, so it refused to extend time on a just and equitable basis.