Ms J McDonald v MYCITYDEAL Ltd — 2017

The claimant's claim form, presented on 6 February 2019, was said to raise direct sex discrimination under section 13 of the Equality Act 2010, unfair dismissal for protected disclosure under section 103A of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and breach of contract. Employment Judge Quill, sitting alone, heard full argument on jurisdiction on the assumption that the claim form had not already been rejected.

The tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the protected-disclosure dismissal and breach of contract complaints because they were out of time. It found that it was reasonably practicable for those claims to have been presented within the statutory time limit and, in any event, that they were not presented within a reasonable time afterwards. It also held that the sex discrimination complaint was out of time under section 123 of the Equality Act 2010 and that it would not be just and equitable to extend time to 6 February 2019.

The claim form was then rejected under Rule 12(2) of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013 because it incorrectly stated that an early conciliation exemption applied. The tribunal found that the claims were relevant proceedings to which the ACAS early conciliation regime applied, that ACAS did have power to conciliate the sex discrimination, unfair dismissal and breach of contract complaints, and that the claimant had in fact obtained an early conciliation certificate issued on 6 October 2017 but had not included the number on the form. The judgment records the claimant's right to apply for reconsideration of the rejection.