Mr. Habib Miah v Cognizant Worldwide Limited — 2022

At the preliminary hearing on 21 July 2022, Mr Habib Miah confirmed that he wished to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim under ss.94-98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and accepted that when his employment ended he had less than two years' continuous service with Cognizant Worldwide Limited. The tribunal pointed out that an unfair dismissal claim under ss.94-98 requires the minimum qualifying period in s.108(1) ERA 1996, which the Claimant did not appear to have met.

The Claimant did not withdraw the claim and was given an opportunity to make written representations before any strike out decision. His email of 8 August 2022 quoted provisions about redundancy and race discrimination, but the tribunal found that those passages did not provide any legal or factual basis for concluding that the two-year qualifying period did not apply to him.

Because the Claimant did not dispute that he had less than two years' continuous employment and no applicable exception was identified, the tribunal held that the unfair dismissal claim had no reasonable prospect of success and struck it out under Rule 37(1)(a). No monetary remedy was awarded.