Ms C Walsh v LB Building Control Limited — 2020

Ms Walsh was employed by LB Building Control Limited as a Building Control Surveyor from 1 August 2016 to 30 August 2019. She resigned by email on 8 August 2019, and the Respondent accepted the resignation. The Tribunal found that her final pay date was 30 August 2019 and that, under her contract, any accrued and unused holiday should have been paid on termination.

The claim was issued on 5 March 2020. The Tribunal found that the relevant date for limitation purposes was 30 August 2019, so the three-month period expired on 29 November 2019. It accepted that the Claimant had tried to complete registration with HMCTS on 30 November 2019, but found that she did not complete or present an ET1 at that point and there was no evidence that she contacted ACAS before 28 January 2020, the date shown on the Early Conciliation Certificate.

Applying section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the authorities it cited, including Walls Meat Co Ltd v Khan, Palmer and Saunders v Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, Schulz v Esso Petroleum Ltd, and James W Cook & Co. (Wivenhoe) Ltd v Tipper, the Tribunal held that it was reasonably practicable for the Claimant to have presented the claim within time. It found no adequate explanation for the delay between the end of employment, the attempted HMCTS registration on 30 November 2019, and the later ACAS contact on 28 January 2020.

The Tribunal therefore held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the unlawful deduction of wages complaint, and the claim was struck out.