In Person v Respondent — 2020

Mr David Mapfumo began employment with Great Western Railway on 16 January 2012 and transferred to First Group Holdings Ltd on 4 July 2016. He was appointed Senior Group Internal Auditor on 1 March 2019 and was summarily dismissed for gross misconduct on 2 October 2019. At the preliminary hearing the tribunal held that First Group Holdings Ltd was the correct respondent.

The hearing was confined to limitation. The claimant contacted ACAS on 11 May 2020, received a certificate on 21 May, and presented his ET1 on 9 June 2020. Applying s.111(2) ERA 1996 and the authorities of Palmer and Saunders v Southend-on-Sea BC and Bodha v Hampshire Area Health Authority, the tribunal found the unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal claims were out of time. It accepted that he had health and domestic difficulties, but found the evidence did not show it was not reasonably practicable to present the claims in time, and that the further delay after he knew on 6 February 2020 that the internal appeal had failed was not reasonable.

The race discrimination complaint was also out of time under s.123 EqA 2010. The tribunal applied the just and equitable test and Robertson v Bexley Community Centre, noted that the ET1 contained no substantive particulars, and refused to extend time. The claimant's redundancy and arrears of pay claims were withdrawn, and the tribunal also treated the outstanding holiday pay claim as outside time limits. It noted there might have been a dispute about holiday entitlement, but declined to determine it because jurisdiction was lacking.