Ms J Woodley v Boots Opticians Professional Services Limited — 2023

Ms J Woodley brought complaints of unlawful deduction from wages and breach of contract in respect of notice pay after resigning on 17 March 2022. The respondent raised a time-limit objection. The claimant and her representative did not attend the preliminary hearing on 9 March 2023, and the tribunal noted that no witness statement or other evidence had been filed from the claimant or from Ms Monaghan.

The tribunal found that the relevant primary limitation period for the unlawful deduction claim expired on 27 June 2022 and the primary limitation period for the breach of contract claim expired on 16 June 2022. It applied section 23(2)-(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and paragraph 7 of the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) Order 1994, and referred to the 'not reasonably practicable' authorities including London Underground v Noel, Brodha v Hampshire AHA, and Palmer v Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. The claimant accepted that both complaints had been presented outside the primary limitation period, so the issue was whether late presentation was not reasonably practicable and whether the claims were then brought within a reasonable further period.

The tribunal dismissed the claim because there was no evidence that it was not reasonably practicable to present either complaint in time, and no evidence that either complaint was presented within a reasonable time after expiry of the relevant limit. On the materials before it, the breach of contract complaint was 11 days out of time even taking account of the government website guidance referred to in the claimant's submissions. For the unlawful deduction complaint, the tribunal also found there was no evidence about any other enquiries made by the claimant, or about the nature of any advice received from Ms Monaghan, who appeared from the papers to be a friend.