Mr U. Uthman v Barking and Dagenham Trading Partnership Ltd — 2025

By oral judgment on 18 March 2025, with written reasons dated 9 April 2025, the tribunal struck out all of the Claimant’s whistleblowing detriment allegations. The decision was made under Rule 38(1)(a) of the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024 because the tribunal considered there was no reasonable prospect of establishing jurisdiction in light of the statutory time limits in s.48 ERA 1996.

The tribunal found that the last possible date on which any alleged detriment could have occurred was 31 December 2021, the Claimant’s last day at work. On that basis, the primary three-month time limit expired on 30 March 2022. The Claimant did not contact ACAS until 14 April 2023, so the claims were more than a year out of time, with the earlier allegations said to be up to 17 months late. The tribunal rejected the submission that later discrimination allegations could be linked to, or extend time for, the out-of-time whistleblowing claims under the Employment Rights Act 1996.

In considering reasonable practicability, the tribunal noted that the Claimant was not prevented by ill-health from bringing claims earlier, that he was able to pursue internal grievances in 2022, that he knew about Employment Tribunals, and that his own position was that he chose to wait while matters were resolved internally. It also took account of the fact that his wife was a qualified solicitor in the Government Legal Department and was aware that legal claims have time limits. On that basis, the tribunal concluded that there was no reasonable prospect of showing that it was not reasonably practicable to present the claims within the statutory period, and the whistleblowing claims were struck out and dismissed.