Mrs B Blackman v Sodexo Limited — 2021

The claimant brought a complaint of unfair dismissal. The preliminary issue was whether the tribunal had jurisdiction, given the statutory time limit. Her employment ended on 13 May 2020, the primary time limit expired on 12 August 2020, ACAS was notified on 17 September 2020, and the claim was presented on 25 September 2020. Because ACAS was not notified within the primary time limit, no early conciliation extension applied.

The claimant said she had delayed because ACAS advised her that she needed documents, in particular the appeal outcome letter, before bringing a tribunal claim. The tribunal found the evidence about that alleged advice inconsistent and found that ACAS did not give that advice. It found instead that the claimant did not seek ACAS advice until after the time limit had expired and had been told the claim would be out of time.

The tribunal noted that the claimant accepted she knew on 13 May 2020 that she could bring an unfair dismissal claim and that there was a three-month time limit. Having rejected the explanation for the late presentation, the tribunal was not satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim in time. It therefore held that it had no jurisdiction to consider the complaint and dismissed the claim.