Mr J Dumba v London United Busways Limited t/a RATP DEV Transit London — 2025

Mr J Dumba had worked for the respondent as a bus driver for 25 years. He had a stroke in September 2023 and the respondent terminated his employment on 6 December 2023. The dispute before the tribunal was not about the dismissal itself, but about back pay linked to a pay rise agreed after his employment had ended and then backdated.

The claimant had filed his ET1 on 18 December 2024, after raising the issue with the company in April 2024 and after ACAS conciliation in November 2024. The tribunal said the claim was not an unlawful deduction from wages claim because, as far as the tribunal was aware, the respondent had paid all sums due on each payslip. It treated the claim as one for breach of contract.

On jurisdiction, the tribunal applied the contractual jurisdiction in the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England & Wales) Order 1994, rule 3, and held that the claim had to arise or be outstanding on termination of employment. It found this claim did not do so, because the pay right arose only after the claimant’s employment had ended. The tribunal therefore dismissed the claim for lack of jurisdiction.

The tribunal noted that there was also an issue as to whether the claim was out of time and referred to the question whether it was not reasonably practicable to bring the claim in time, but it did not determine that issue because it had already concluded that it lacked jurisdiction. It said that if it were wrong on jurisdiction, the time-limit question would then need to be considered.