Mr Isaac Andrew v London Borough of Lewisham OPEN PRELIMINARY HEARING — 2022

This was an open preliminary hearing on limitation and jurisdiction. The Claimant had been dismissed with immediate effect on 7 November 2019 and presented his claims on 21 July 2020, after the tribunal accepted that the primary limitation period expired on 6 February 2020. The tribunal therefore considered whether the unfair dismissal claim could proceed under s.111(2) ERA 1996. It referred to Wall’s Meat Co Ltd v Khan and Porter v Bandridge Ltd, including the principle that the question is whether the claimant ought to have known of the time limit. The tribunal found it was reasonably practicable to present the claim in time because the Claimant knew there were time limits, had access to the internet and assistance from his partner, had contacted ACAS in December 2019, and could have sought advice earlier. It also found that waiting for the appeal outcome and then waiting further after the appeal was rejected did not make late presentation reasonable.

The tribunal also addressed a race discrimination complaint arising from the treatment of a comparator, Mr Urbaniak. After the Claimant was taken through the differences between his own circumstances and Mr Urbaniak’s, he said he could see the position and no longer maintained the claim. The race discrimination claim was therefore dismissed on withdrawal. No monetary remedy was awarded on either claim.