Mr D Grace v The Snow Goose Pub Heard by CVP in Reading — 2022

Mr D Grace was employed by the respondent as a sous chef from 10 July 2019 to 10 October 2019. He brought claims for unfair dismissal, notice pay, holiday pay, and underpayment/unauthorised deduction from wages, the wage dispute turning on whether he should have been paid £12 an hour or £10 an hour.

The tribunal dismissed the unfair dismissal claim because Mr Grace did not have sufficient qualifying service. The judgment records that he accepted that his short period of service meant he could not pursue that claim.

The remaining claims were treated as subject to the three-month time limit under s.23 ERA 1996 or article 3 of the Employment Tribunals (England & Wales) Extension of Jurisdiction Order, subject to the "reasonably practicable" exception and any extension arising from ACAS early conciliation. The effective date of termination was 10 October 2019. The first ET1 was received on 21 January 2020, referring to an early conciliation certificate in the name of ELP Catering Limited, while the actual employer was ELP Katering Limited.

The tribunal found it was reasonably practicable to present the claims in time because the claimant knew from the early conciliation material that his employer was a limited company, but did not name that company correctly on the claim form. Although there had been later correspondence, including a further certificate and an acceptance date of 20 May 2021, the tribunal was not satisfied that the defect had been rectified within time. It noted Pryce v Baxterstorey Ltd [2022] EAT 61, but did not consider that authority would change the result. The remaining claims were therefore dismissed for want of jurisdiction.