Mr D Scott v Premier Foods Group Limited — 2019

Employment Judge Britton, sitting alone in Nottingham on 23 October 2019, dealt with a preliminary time-limit issue arising from Mr Scott's unfair dismissal claim. The ET1 had been presented on 24 June 2019, but the tribunal found that the dismissal date was 8 March 2019 and that, after ACAS early conciliation, the deadline for presenting the claim was 21 June 2019. The claim was therefore three days late, and the question was whether it had not been reasonably practicable to present it in time and whether it had then been presented within a reasonable period.

Applying the reasonably practicable test and citing Palmer v Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and Asda Stores Ltd v Kauser, the tribunal accepted Mr Scott's evidence that he was in mental shock after being summarily dismissed following 33 years' service, that he was in a low mood and emotionally affected by the dismissal and other family pressures, and that he was focused on finding and keeping new employment. The tribunal also found that he did not properly take in the ACAS early conciliation information about time limits and did not know the deadline. On that basis, it concluded that an impediment operating on his state of mind made it not reasonably feasible for him to present the claim sooner, and allowed his claim to proceed.

The tribunal separately dealt with Mr Alex Pressley. It accepted on the basis of the tribunal service printout that his matter may have been intended as an associated claim, but he had not replied to the tribunal's correspondence or attended the hearing. His claim was dismissed as out of time and also for want of prosecution/failure to comply with the tribunal's order. The judgment did not determine the merits of Mr Scott's dismissal claim and instead relisted it for a substantive hearing in February 2020.