Claimant v Watches of Switzerland Operations Limited — 2021

This was a preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Russell sitting alone on 30 April 2021. The issue determined was whether Watches of Switzerland Operations Ltd should be allowed to file its ET3 out of time. The tribunal allowed the respondent to do so, and recorded that the ET3 filed on 17 March 2021 would stand as its defence.

The judge found that the principal reason the respondent had not received the claim form over a significant period was an administrative failure at the employment tribunal, exacerbated by the pandemic. The respondent had expected a claim form in or around mid-January, had asked the tribunal to clarify the position when none was received, and had chased the matter on a number of occasions.

The tribunal noted that the respondent did not see the claim form until shortly before the proposed first preliminary hearing on 24 March, and then immediately requested an extension of time and filed an ET3. The claimant argued that rule 20 of the ET Rules was breached, but the judge held that rule 20 applied where the respondent knew of and had seen the claim, so that it knew or ought to have known it was out of time. The judge also noted that the respondent could not sensibly put in even a draft defence to a claim it had not seen.

Applying the overriding objective, the tribunal concluded that the prejudice to the respondent from being excluded from the liability proceedings outweighed the short delay, particularly at this early stage of the case. No substantive liability findings or remedy were determined in this judgment.