Mr B W Okma v DL Insurance Services Limited — 2024

The claimant brought an unfair dismissal complaint and a complaint of less favourable treatment under regulation 3(1) of the Fixed-Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002. The tribunal found that the unfair dismissal complaint should have been presented by 29 June 2023 and the FTER complaint by 30 August 2022, but the claimant began ACAS Early Conciliation on 6 July 2023 and presented the claim on 15 September 2023.

For the unfair dismissal complaint, the tribunal found that the claimant knew the facts giving rise to his claim within the primary time limit and was able to find out what was required to bring a tribunal claim. It found there was no good reason to delay because of the internal appeal, and that it was reasonably practicable to present the complaint in time.

For the FTER complaint, the tribunal found that the complained-of event occurred in May 2022, had ended by July 2022, and the claim was presented more than a year out of time. It found no good reason for the delay and concluded that extending time would place the respondent at an unacceptable disadvantage, including because a relevant line manager was no longer employed by the respondent and the cogency of evidence was likely to be affected.