In Person For the v Respondent — 2022

The claimant was dismissed on 3 September 2021 and was told she had a right of appeal. Her appeal was heard on 22 October 2021 and she received a letter on 17 November 2021 saying the dismissal was upheld. The tribunal found that the effective date of termination remained 3 September 2021 and that the appeal process did not stop time running for tribunal limitation purposes.

Applying s111(2) Employment Rights Act 1996, the tribunal held that it was reasonably practicable for the claimant to have presented both the unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal claims within time. It rejected the claimant's reliance on the appeal outcome date and on Drage v Governing Body of Greenford High School, finding that this was not one of the limited cases where an appeal process changes the effective date of termination. The tribunal also said that ignorance of rights was not a defence in itself and applied Porter v Bandridge Ltd, concluding that the claimant could and should have found out about the position sooner.

The claims were therefore out of time and struck out because the tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear them. The tribunal also refused the respondent's costs application for £1,000 plus VAT, finding that the claimant's pursuit of the claim was not shown to be unreasonable in the circumstances, including her lack of tribunal experience and her apparent reliance on assistance from Haringey Law Centre and ACAS.