Miss Stefania Ziembinska v The Daughters of Divine Charity — 2021

This was a preliminary jurisdiction hearing before Employment Judge Allen sitting alone at Watford by CVP on 20 August 2021. The claimant did not attend; Mrs Black, described as a workplace colleague and friend, attended for her. The tribunal noted that the claim form alleged unfair dismissal, redundancy and unauthorised deductions from wages arising from the end of the claimant's work at the respondent's school, but the hearing was limited to whether the claims had been presented in time.

The tribunal took 31 August 2019, the date the claimant said she was made redundant, as the relevant date for time-limit purposes. On that basis, the three-month limitation period for unfair dismissal and unlawful deductions expired on 30 November 2019. For redundancy pay, the tribunal held that the period for the steps in s.164 ERA 1996 expired on 29 February 2020, but the claim presented on 28 September 2020 was still out of time.

The tribunal considered whether it was not reasonably practicable to present the claims in time and whether a further reasonable period should be allowed. Applying the checklist derived from British Coal Corporation v Keeble, it noted the length of the delay, the claimant's explanation that she had been waiting for her religious order to negotiate a transfer to the primary school, the likely effect of delay on witness recollection, the lack of relevant information requests to the respondent, the claimant's limited promptness, and the evidence that she had sought advice from various sources including ACAS, Citizens Advice Bureau and a solicitor who declined to take the case.

Having weighed those matters, the tribunal found there were no reasonable grounds to extend the statutory time limits. It therefore held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the claims and struck them out under Rule 21. No monetary award was made.