In person For the v Ms E Jones, solicitor — 2024

Mrs O Hooper worked as a receptionist for Whitbread Group plc at London Greenford Premier Inn from 7 July 2015 to 28 April 2023. The claim form was date-stamped 18 September 2023, which meant the dismissal complaint was treated as one day outside the primary time limit on the basis adopted for the preliminary hearing. The hearing was therefore concerned only with whether time should be extended for the unfair dismissal, disability discrimination and victimisation complaints.

For the unfair dismissal complaint, the tribunal applied section 111(2) Employment Rights Act 1996 and the authorities in Consignia plc v Sealy and Asda Stores Ltd v Kauser. The claimant had been told on 25 August 2023 that the ACAS certificate had issued and that she needed to submit her claim by 17 September 2023. She completed the form on 14 September 2023, tried repeatedly to submit it online until about 3.00am on 15 September 2023, and encountered the Tribunal's temporary online service outage. After checking delivery options, she posted the form first class at 7.30am on 15 September 2023 after being told it should arrive on 16 September 2023. The tribunal found that it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim in time and that it was presented within such further period as was reasonable.

For the discrimination and victimisation complaints, the tribunal applied section 123 Equality Act 2010. It reached the same result on the basis of the same events and also took into account that the respondent suffered no prejudice from the one-day delay. On the assumption that there had been conduct extending over a period ending with the last alleged act of discrimination, the tribunal held that it was just and equitable to extend time. The tribunal therefore held that it had jurisdiction to hear the unfair dismissal, disability discrimination and victimisation complaints; it did not determine the merits of those complaints.