In person For the v Mrs E Smith solicitor — 2023

Ms S Shah was employed by the Metropolitan Police as a Communications Officer from 2 April 2012 until 21 September 2021. This preliminary hearing on 6 January 2023 dealt only with limitation. The claimant gave evidence herself and said she had suffered prolonged sickness, PTSD/personality disorder, domestic abuse, and divorce proceedings. The tribunal noted that she had previously brought a tribunal claim, had union representation at the dismissal and appeal meetings, and knew the three-month-minus-one-day time limit. Her ET1 was lodged on 22 February 2022, after ACAS date B of 21 January 2022 and one day after the tribunal considered the deadline to have expired.

For the unpaid wages, holiday pay, and unfair dismissal claims, the tribunal held that it was reasonably practicable to present the claims in time. It found that the claimant was sufficiently well during the final days of the limitation period, that she had returned to work briefly in July and August 2021, that she had started new employment on 22 December 2021, and that she had material from the internal appeal which she used to draft a lengthy ET1. The tribunal did not accept her evidence that confusion prevented timely filing, and those claims were struck out.

On the discrimination claims, the tribunal held that the allegations in the ET1 did not amount to conduct extending over a period within section 123(3)(a) of the Equality Act 2010, so claims predating 19 September 2021 were out of time. It considered whether to extend time on a just and equitable basis but concluded that the respondent would be prejudiced by having to defend a claim that was in some respects insufficiently specified, that the claimant was aware of the time limit, and that she was able to make the claim in time. The disability and pregnancy/maternity discrimination claims were therefore struck out, and the hearing listed for March 2024 was discharged.