Mr. A Frost v Paragon Land & Estates Limited — 2020

Mr Frost brought claims arising from work for Paragon Land & Estates Limited, including unfair dismissal, redundancy payment, breach of contract, unlawful deduction of wages and disability discrimination. The tribunal found that in about August 2016 the parties agreed he would be paid £350 per week, or £1,400 per month, for half a day's work each week, and that the arrangement was for consultancy services rather than employment. It relied on the way the arrangement operated in practice: the claimant invoiced for work, was paid on invoice, was not taxed at source, received no holiday pay, sick pay, pension contributions or disciplinary/grievance rights, could decline work, and was free to work for others.

The tribunal found that the relationship ended by Mr Parisi's email of 17 December 2016, which said he would not agree any further payments and that the work relationship was over. It rejected the claimant's case that termination occurred in November 2019. On that footing, the unfair dismissal and redundancy payment claims also failed because the claimant did not have the two years' continuity of service required, and the tribunal further held that he did not have employee status for unfair dismissal, redundancy or breach of contract purposes.

On time limits, the tribunal accepted that the claimant's detention and medication in late 2016 and some of 2017 may have made it difficult to present claims within the initial three months, but it found there was no satisfactory explanation for waiting until December 2019. It noted that he knew generally about tribunal time limits by January 2017, had approached solicitors in 2017, drafted an ACAS employment report on 7 November 2019, and still did not present the claim until 17 December 2019 after the ACAS certificate issued on 28 November 2019. Applying the Equality Act 'just and equitable' test and the Employment Rights Act 'not reasonably practicable' test, the tribunal dismissed the disability discrimination and wages claims as out of time. All claims were dismissed.