Mr C Fox v Key Integrated Services (North West) Ltd — 2019

This was a preliminary hearing in Manchester on 9 October 2019 before Employment Judge Holmes, dealing with Mr C Fox's claim for breach of contract and notice pay arising from his summary dismissal on 21 December 2018. The respondent did not attend. The tribunal accepted Mr Fox's evidence about the chronology and the documents he produced, including the March 2018 email attaching a draft contract.

The claimant filed his ET claim on 11 July 2019. The tribunal found that the ordinary three-month time limit for a breach of contract claim had expired on 20 March 2019, and that even allowing for early conciliation the claim was still well out of time. It applied the "reasonably practicable" test for extending time, referring to Palmer and Saunders v Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and Walls Meat Co Ltd v Khan.

The tribunal accepted that Mr Fox had sought advice from ACAS shortly after dismissal and knew there might be a contractual entitlement to more than one week's notice. It found, however, that he was not prevented from presenting a claim within time: he knew of the right to claim, knew of the time limit, and had not taken further steps after late January 2019, when he later said he could not find the signed contract in his desk drawer.

The tribunal concluded that there had been no want of reasonable practicability preventing presentation within the original time limit and therefore it could not extend time. The breach of contract claim was accordingly not allowed to proceed, and no monetary remedy was awarded.