Mr M Humphrey First v Keith Taurai Bero Second Respondent: Boardworks Limited — 2023

The case was listed on 19 April 2023 to hear the respondents' application for an extension of time to present a response. In the ET1, Mr Humphrey indicated that he was bringing a disability discrimination claim and a redundancy payment claim, with the redundancy element identified as £17,000 outstanding redundancy pay. The respondents said the redundancy matter had been agreed and that there was a settlement agreement.

Employment Judge Brady applied rule 20 of the Employment Tribunal Rules and the approach in Kwik Save Stores Ltd v Swain and Others 1997, considering the explanation for delay, the balance of prejudice, and the merits of the defence. The papers showed that the notice of claim had been sent to the respondent's previous address, but the tribunal also had before it an email from Mr Clark dated 24 January 2022 saying the claims had been filed, and further correspondence in July 2022 that referred to the case number and was copied to Mr Bero.

The judge found that the respondent had been put on notice that proceedings were ongoing and that it would have been reasonable to make enquiries earlier. The explanation for the delay was found not to be satisfactory, particularly in light of the length of the delay and the respondent's awareness of the claim. On prejudice, the tribunal accepted that refusal of the extension would prevent the respondent defending the claim, but found that granting it would further delay proceedings that had already been ongoing for a year and would prejudice the claimant.

The tribunal also found that the respondent had not shown sufficient merit in the proposed defence to outweigh the prejudice to the claimant. The application to present the response out of time was therefore refused. This judgment did not decide the underlying discrimination or redundancy claims on their merits and did not make any remedy award.