In person. For the v Respondent — 2021

This was an open preliminary hearing on limitation in an unfair dismissal claim. The claimant was dismissed on 13 December 2019. Early conciliation ran from 27 January 2020 to 27 February 2020, and the tribunal recorded that the latest date for presenting the claim, after allowing for ACAS conciliation, was 13 April 2020. The claim was not filed until 7 July 2020.

The tribunal applied section 111 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and noted that the burden was on the claimant to show that it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim in time. It referred to Porter v Bandridge Ltd, Palmer v Southend on Sea Borough Council, and Asda Stores Ltd v Kauser when setting out the relevant approach to the words "reasonably practicable".

On the facts, the tribunal accepted that the claimant had put the matter in the hands of her trade union representative and believed ACAS was dealing with it, but found that she then "sat back" and did nothing to protect her position. It recorded that she had seen the ACAS link and had briefly noted the time limits, had contacted solicitors on 3 June 2020, and only later realised there was a problem. The tribunal found that it would have been reasonably practicable for her to have issued the claim within the three-month period.

The claim was therefore dismissed for want of jurisdiction. No monetary remedy was awarded.