Mr E Joseph v Sasse Limited — 2022

The Tribunal first dealt with the Claimant’s applications for recusal and postponement. Applying the apparent bias test from Porter v Magill and the recusal principles in the authorities cited, the Employment Judge found nothing that would lead the fair-minded and informed observer to conclude there was a real possibility of bias. The recusal application was refused, and postponement was also refused because the Claimant had notice of the hearing and the Tribunal considered it was not in the interests of justice to adjourn again.

On the time issue, the Tribunal found that the Claimant was dismissed on 24 August 2020 and that, taking ACAS early conciliation into account, the final date for presenting a claim was 1 December 2020. The Claimant’s first attempts to present the claim on 9 November 2020 and 29 November 2020 were not valid methods of presentation, and he did not submit a claim online until 7 December 2020, which was 6 days late. The Tribunal accepted that he knew of his right to claim unfair dismissal, knew of ACAS, and knew he could take advice about bringing a tribunal claim.

The Tribunal considered whether it had been not reasonably practicable for the Claimant to present the claim in time, including his suggestion that he had been misled into thinking he had already made a valid claim. It rejected that explanation, finding it unlikely that ACAS had told him to send the claim to the relevant tribunal office and finding that the mistaken methods used were more likely to have resulted from his own thinking and the assistance he received. It concluded that the Claimant had not shown a reasonable mistaken belief and therefore had not satisfied the statutory test for extending time. The unfair dismissal claim was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.