J Brissett – Legal executive For the v A Ross - Counsel — 2018

This was a preliminary hearing on whether the claimant's ET1 had been presented in time. The tribunal recorded that the ordinary deadline was 7 April 2018, following the ACAS early conciliation certificate issued on 7 March 2018. The claimant's pro-bono assistant, Mr Joslin Brissett, emailed the ET1 on 28 March 2018, was told it could not be accepted by email, and then posted the ET1 by ordinary post on Easter Saturday, 31 March 2018. The tribunal accepted Mr Brissett as an honest witness and found that the ET1 was posted on that date, but that there was a delay in the post and the ET1 was not received by the tribunal until 1 May 2018.

Applying section 111(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the early conciliation extension in section 207B(4), Employment Judge Jack held that it was not reasonably practicable for the complaint to have been presented before 7 April 2018. The judge distinguished Capital Foods Retail Limited v Corrigan [1993] IRLR 430 on the basis that this case involved a much shorter remaining time period and there was no reasonable expectation that an acknowledgement would be received before the deadline. The tribunal also held that it was reasonable to extend time to allow the complaint to be treated as presented on 1 May 2018.

The preliminary issue was therefore decided in the claimant's favour and the tribunal found that it had jurisdiction to determine the claim. This judgment did not decide the underlying unfair dismissal complaint on its merits.