Mr S Agomuoh v Serco Limited — 2019

The preliminary hearing considered whether the Tribunal had jurisdiction given the applicable time limits. The claimant had been summarily dismissed on 9 or 10 January 2018 and presented his claim on 15 July 2018. The Tribunal found that the extended time limit for complaints about the dismissal expired on 5 May 2018, and that complaints about earlier events in 2017 were further out of time.

For the unfair dismissal, wages and holiday pay complaints, the Tribunal was not satisfied that it had not been reasonably practicable for the claimant to present the claim by 5 May 2018. It accepted that the claimant had significant personal and family matters in February and March 2018, but found he had overstated his inability to present the claim sooner and had not submitted it within a further reasonable period in any event.

For the discrimination complaints, the Tribunal was not persuaded that it was just and equitable to extend time. It considered the claimant had not provided a good explanation for the whole period of delay, the discrimination complaints were not clearly articulated, and the passage of time could affect the cogency of evidence about events primarily dating back to May 2017. The Tribunal therefore dismissed the claims because it had no jurisdiction to hear them.