And v Mr T Howard Arriva Employment Services Ltd Heard by: Zoom — 2021

The claimant started employment with the respondent on 18 July 2016 and was made redundant on 30 November 2020. He had chronic fatigue syndrome and had been off work for about 18 months before redundancy. The hearing was an open preliminary hearing to decide whether the unfair dismissal and disability discrimination complaints should be struck out as out of time. The claimant's first ACAS early conciliation named Arriva Financial Advice, Arriva Life Services UK Limited and Arriva Plc, and he later began a second conciliation process on 21 April 2021 against Arriva Employment Services Ltd before issuing the claim on 10 May 2021.

On unfair dismissal, the tribunal found it had no jurisdiction. It accepted that the claim against the proper respondent had been presented outside the statutory time limit and held that it was reasonably practicable for the claim to have been presented in time. The tribunal said the claimant had a hard copy of his first contract of employment, later contracts were accessible on Workday, and if he was uncertain about the employer it would have been reasonable to check the contracts. It therefore dismissed the unfair dismissal complaint for want of jurisdiction.

On disability discrimination, the tribunal held that it was just and equitable to extend time under section 123 of the Equality Act 2010. It referred to ambiguity in some of the respondent group's documentation, the claimant's misunderstanding as to the correct employer, the prospective merits of the claim, and the balance of prejudice. The tribunal found that the delay would not affect the cogency of the evidence, that the claimant acted promptly once the issue had been highlighted, and that a delay of 10 days did not create real additional prejudice to the respondent. The tribunal therefore allowed the disability discrimination complaints to proceed, but did not determine their merits at this hearing.