Mrs J Avery v Waterloo House Rest Home Limited — 2020

This was a public preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Johnson on 15 October 2020. The claimant, Mrs J Avery, did not attend or take part. The respondent was represented by Ms S Clarke of Counsel. The tribunal considered whether it had jurisdiction to hear the claimant's complaints of unfair dismissal and unlawful deduction from wages, because both appeared to have been presented out of time.

The tribunal noted that the claimant had been notified of the hearing by notice sent on 21 September 2020, but had not joined the CVP hearing by 10.20am. Tribunal staff attempted to contact her by telephone on the number given on the claim form, without success. The respondent's representative said solicitors acting for the respondent had emailed the claimant earlier in the week, but there was no reply. In the claimant's absence, Ms Clarke submitted that there was no evidence to support a contention that the claim form had been sent in time.

The tribunal referred to the ET1 submission routes listed on the tribunal's website and found that the claimant had not submitted the claim form by any of the permitted methods. It recorded that, following ACAS early conciliation, the claim should have been presented by 20 February 2020, but was not presented until 5 May 2020. Because there was no meaningful evidence from the claimant to show that it had not been reasonably practicable to present the claims in time, the tribunal was not satisfied that the time limit should be extended. Both claims were dismissed for want of jurisdiction.