Ms G Ellis v Build Recruitment — 2024

Ms G Ellis brought a complaint of unfair dismissal against Build Recruitment. The tribunal dealt only with whether the unfair dismissal claim could proceed. It assumed, for the purposes of the decision, that employment began on 3 September 2021 and ended on 25 August 2023, but on that basis the claimant still had less than two years' service.

The tribunal noted that sections 92(7) and 97(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 add the statutory minimum notice period to employment for the purpose of the two-year service calculation. It accepted that the notice period in this case was seven days, which would extend the end date only to 1 September 2023. Even on that basis, the claimant still did not satisfy the two-year qualifying period required by section 108 ERA 1996.

In her response to the tribunal's show-cause request, the claimant did not identify any circumstances that would disapply the two-year service requirement. The tribunal rejected her reference to a failure to follow "protocols" as a basis for avoiding the statutory bar, noting that such matters do not make the dismissal of an employee with less than two years' service unfair for the purpose of bringing an unfair dismissal claim.

Accordingly, the tribunal held that the unfair dismissal complaint had no reasonable prospect of success and struck it out under Rule 37 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure. The judgment states that any complaint for breach of contract or unauthorised deductions from wages was unaffected by this decision.