Dawn Butler v Friends and Places Together and 1 other — 2020

Employment Judge Housego dealt with limitation only. The claimant did not attend the hearing, was not represented, and made no submissions. The judgment records an email dismissing her on 19 March 2019, while the claim form gave 21 March 2020 as the dismissal date; the tribunal did not resolve that discrepancy because the claim was out of time on either version of the chronology.

The claimant started early conciliation with Acas on 19 June 2020 in respect of Denise Nygate and on 25 June 2020 in respect of Friends and Places Together, and presented the ET1 on 14 August 2020. The judge held there was no explanation from the claimant showing that it had not been reasonably practicable to present the claim in time, beyond a reference in an email to advice from Acas that was not particularised or supported by any submission to the tribunal.

The claim against Friends and Places Together was therefore struck out for being out of time. The judge added that, even if time could otherwise have been extended, the claim had still been presented 26 days after the EC certificate was obtained, which was a further unreasonable delay. The claim against Denise Nygate was also struck out because she had never been the claimant's employer and, on the balance of probabilities, the claim was out of time in any event.