Mr C McKenzie v Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government — 2020

At the preliminary hearing on 7 January 2020, Employment Judge Davidson considered only whether Mr C McKenzie’s unfair dismissal claim could be presented out of time. The claimant accepted that the originating application was late and asked for it to be allowed in. The tribunal therefore applied the time-limit issue only, not the underlying merits of dismissal.

The tribunal found that the relevant dates were 18 October 2018 for dismissal, 5 December 2018 as the latest date by which the claimant was definitely aware of the dismissal, late February 2019 when his union had assigned a representative, 7 June 2019 when ACAS was contacted, 24 June 2019 when the early conciliation certificate issued, and 2 August 2019 when the claim was received by the tribunal. It rejected the claimant’s submission that he only finally knew of the dismissal in January 2019 when it became clear there would be no appeal, holding that the latest knowledge date was 5 December 2018.

The claimant relied on anxiety, depression, hypertension and related stress symptoms as the reason he did not start the claim earlier. The tribunal accepted that there were fit notes covering the relevant period, and noted a January 2019 ECG referral, but found there was no detailed medical evidence about the conditions or readings. It also found the claimant’s evidence about his doctors being unwilling to provide written evidence was not credible.

The tribunal held that the claimant had not shown it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim in time, and in any event had not shown that the claim was lodged within a reasonable time thereafter. It noted that the union was aware of a time issue, could have acted on his behalf, and that no explanation was given for why nothing happened until June or for the further delay after early conciliation. The claim was therefore dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.