In person (assisted by interpreter) For the v Mr A and Mr C Deforti, Directors — 2021

The tribunal first recorded that an oral judgment given on 3 March 2021, which had upheld the claim in part, was revoked when the judge revisited the limitation point while preparing written reasons. The final decision was that the tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear the claim because it had been presented out of time.

The judge calculated that ACAS early conciliation began on 26 February 2020 and ended on 26 March 2020, making about 19 June 2020 the last day for presenting the claim. The ET1 was presented on 14 August 2020, which the judge calculated was 55 days late. The claimant could not explain the delay, and the judge rejected reliance on language difficulty and lockdown, finding that he had been signposted to the tribunal process shortly after termination and had time to make further inquiries.

Applying the test of whether it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim in time, and whether it was brought within a further reasonable period, the judge held that the extension test was not met. The written judgment therefore dismissed the claim, and the reasons state that it was struck out for want of jurisdiction. The judge also said that the March hearing summary was included for fairness only and did not amount to findings once jurisdiction had been rejected.