Mr S Cass v GovData Ltd — 2022

At a preliminary hearing on 29 July 2022, Employment Judge McDonald considered three claims raised by Mr S Cass against Govdata Ltd: a notice pay/wrongful dismissal claim, an expenses-related breach of contract claim, and a claim for unpaid wages. Mr Cass confirmed that he withdrew the first two claims. The tribunal applied rule 52 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure and, because he said he wished to consider bringing civil claims and the only bar in the tribunal was time, it did not issue judgments dismissing those withdrawn claims.

The remaining claim was for unlawful deductions from wages under the Employment Rights Act 1996. The judge found that the last possible deduction in the series was 31 March 2021, so the primary three-month time limit expired on 30 June 2021. The tribunal accepted Mr Cass's evidence that he did not start the claim by that date because he believed the respondent's assurance that the money would be paid in his final pay packet on 30 June 2021, and held that it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim within the primary period.

The claim nevertheless failed because Mr Cass did not bring it within such further period as the tribunal considered reasonable. The judge found that from 30 June, or at latest 1 July 2021, he should have made enquiries and contacted ACAS; even allowing time to do so, the claim should have been brought by the end of July 2021. He did not contact ACAS until 24 September 2021, after speaking to a solicitor on 23 September 2021, so the claim was out of time and dismissed.