Case 3304837/2020 · Employment Tribunal
Ms Mason v Miltech Engineering Limited — 2020
- Case reference
- 3304837/2020
- Decision date
- 4 April 2020
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Judge
- Employment Judge S Moore
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Ms Mason
Respondent
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThis was a preliminary hearing before Employment Judge S Moore sitting alone. The tribunal recorded that Ms Mason had been employed as Race Team Secretary/Administrator, with the judgment stating that her employment started on 24 April 2019 and ended following a three-month notice period on 16 January 2019. The claims before the tribunal were for unpaid holiday pay under regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and for reimbursement of car repair costs said to arise from damage caused at a race event between 25 and 28 July 2019.
The tribunal held that both claims were subject to a three-month time limit running from the effective date of termination, with a possible extension if it was not reasonably practicable to present the complaints in time. It found that the claims should have been brought by 15 April 2020, but were not lodged until 19 May 2020. The ACAS early conciliation certificate showed that early conciliation was not initiated until 19 April 2020, after the time limit had already expired.
On reasonable practicability, the tribunal accepted that Ms Mason had been in dispute with her employer about holiday pay since October 2019 and that the dispute continued after termination. It noted that on 1 April 2020 she received a final letter stating that she had been paid everything due, and that it had been plain for some time that the respondent was not going to reimburse the car repair cost. The tribunal found that as at 1 April 2020 she still had two weeks before the deadline expired and that she could have complied with the time limit.
The tribunal accepted that Ms Mason thought contacting ACAS was sufficient, but held that she ought to have known or found out the correct position. It said she had had ample time to take advice or research the issue, and that it could not be said that it was not reasonably practicable for the claims to have been brought in time. The judgment therefore concluded that the claims were out of time, the tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear them, and both claims were struck out.
Claims and outcomes
2 findings recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holiday pay | Claim for unpaid holiday pay under regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations 1998. The tribunal held it was out of time and struck it out. | Struck out | — | — |
| Breach of contract | Claim for reimbursement of car repair costs arising from damage caused by a third party at a race event. The tribunal said the basis of the claim was unclear, but treated the most favourable assumption for the claimant as a breach of contract claim outstanding on termination; it was out of time and struck out. | Struck out | — | — |
Legal tests applied
3 references- regulation 30 Working Time Regulations 1998
- paragraph 7 Extension of Jurisdiction Order 1994
- reasonably practicable
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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