Mr T D Bellingham v Eurorail Crash Barriers 2000 Limited — 2019

Employment Judge Broughton, sitting alone, dealt at a preliminary hearing with limitation and jurisdiction issues arising from claims pleaded as disability discrimination, unfair dismissal, holiday pay and other payments. The unfair dismissal claim had already been struck out because the claimant's employment ran from 18 May 2017 to 31 July 2018 and he did not have the two years' qualifying service required by s.108 ERA 1996; he did not make representations against the strike-out warning.

The tribunal struck out the holiday pay claim and the separate £594 loan deduction claim as out of time. Applying s.23 ERA 1996 and the 'reasonably practicable' test, the judge found that the claimant had received ACAS advice and had chosen not to issue proceedings at that stage because of other matters and concern about a counterclaim, so it was reasonably practicable to present those claims in time.

For the disability discrimination complaint, the tribunal accepted evidence of learning difficulties, including severe dyslexia, and found that the initial ACAS contact was not until November 2018, after the primary three-month time limit had expired. Although the judge was not satisfied that the delay had been fully explained and found the claimant's account of waiting for ACAS correspondence inconsistent with the documents, the tribunal held that it was just and equitable under s.123 Equality Act 2010 to extend time because of the claimant's learning difficulties, health and financial pressures, and the absence of any identified prejudice to the respondent. The disability discrimination claim was allowed to proceed to a case management hearing; the merits were not decided.