Miss E Ngimbi v Pride Media Ltd — 2022

Miss E Ngimbi brought a claim for unlawful deductions from wages against Pride Media Ltd. The tribunal heard the matter in the claimant's absence; no one attended for the respondent, although the tribunal found the respondent had acknowledged the notice of hearing. The claimant gave oral evidence that the last deduction in the series related to salary for March 2020, due on or about 1 April 2020, and that no later sums were owed for notice or holiday pay.

Applying section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the approach in Taylorplan Services Ltd v Jackson & ors, the tribunal found that the claim was presented out of time. It held that the relevant three-month period ran from the last deduction, so the claimant needed to commence ACAS Early Conciliation by 30 June 2020. Instead, Early Conciliation was started on 19 August 2020, about seven weeks late. The tribunal accepted that the claimant had waited after receiving assurances from Mr Cushnie and had not known about the Early Conciliation requirement, but said lack of knowledge was not relevant to the not reasonably practicable test.

The tribunal concluded that the claimant's reasons, while understandable, did not show that it was not reasonably practicable to present the complaint in time. It therefore did not go on to consider whether the claim had been brought within a further reasonable period. The tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the claim and dismissed it.