S A Wiafe v Acorn Care Home — 2023

This was a preliminary hearing on limitation only. The claimant, S A Wiafe, had been employed as a support worker from 15 April 2019 until 13 October 2022, when she was dismissed for gross misconduct. She brought claims of unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal and unauthorised deduction from wages, including a complaint about failure to pay accrued but untaken annual leave. The tribunal found that the claim was presented on 13 February 2023, after the three-month primary time limit had expired on 12 January 2023. ACAS was not contacted until 31 January 2023, and an earlier claim lodged in early February was rejected because it had not been submitted using the prescribed method.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant first became aware of the employment tribunal process in November 2022 and that she was unwell from 9 October 2022 until November 2022. It did not accept that her later high blood pressure between November 2022 and February 2023 prevented her from contacting her legal adviser or making enquiries, noting that she was able to travel on public transport, had internet access and was paying for professional legal advice from Mr Tampuri of Tamsons Legal Services. It accepted that she had been told to complete the internal appeal before escalating the matter to tribunal, but held that the absence of advice about time limits did not make it not reasonably practicable for her to present the claims in time.

Applying s.111 ERA 1996, article 7(a) of the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994 and s.23 ERA 1996, together with Dedman, Trevelyans, Bodha and Cygnet, the tribunal held that it was reasonably practicable for the claims to have been entered in time and therefore lacked jurisdiction to hear them. It said that any remedy for the missed deadline lay against the claimant's legal advisers, and recorded that a copy of the judgment would be sent to HMCTS to consider whether to refer Mr Tampuri to the Bar Standards Board.