Mrs C MacKenzie (deceased) v Pointon and Sempringham Parish Council — 2022

This was a preliminary hearing on limitation in an unfair dismissal claim brought by Mrs C MacKenzie against Pointon and Sempringham Parish Council. The tribunal recorded that she was dismissed on 7 March 2021, so the ordinary limitation date for presenting an unfair dismissal claim was 6 June 2021. The claim form was not received until 6 December 2021, around six months late. The claimant died on 7 April 2022, and the tribunal appointed Mrs Pamela Jayne Keeley to continue the proceedings on her behalf.

The claimant relied on three reasons for the delay: a wish to appeal her dismissal, a wish to avoid putting the respondent to the cost of a tribunal hearing, and difficulties arising from remote working and the COVID-19 pandemic. The tribunal accepted that the claimant knew she had a potential unfair dismissal claim within days of dismissal, had contacted her local District Council shortly after dismissal, was computer literate, could use email and the tribunal claim form, and had also made contact with ACAS at the end of 2020. It held that the existence of an internal appeal was not enough to make it not reasonably practicable to present the claim, and that the pandemic did not prevent tribunal presentation.

Applying the section 111 ERA 1996 time limit and the "reasonably practicable" test, the tribunal found it was reasonably practicable for the claim to have been presented in time. As the claim was not brought within the statutory period and the escape clause did not apply, the tribunal dismissed the unfair dismissal claim in its entirety. No remedy was awarded.