Mr K Cook v Tesco Stores Ltd — 2022

The claimant was employed as a Warehouse Team Manager and resigned on 25 September 2021, giving four weeks' notice. His employment terminated on 22 October 2021. He lodged a grievance on the same date as his resignation and received the grievance outcome on 7 December 2021. He presented his ET1 on 28 January 2022, after contacting Acas on 23 January 2022.

The tribunal found that the last day for lodging the claim was 21 January 2022. Because early conciliation did not begin until 23 January 2022, the statutory extension provisions did not stop time before the limitation period expired. The claim was therefore not presented within the prescribed time limit.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant said he did not know about the time limit until Acas told him, and that he had thought he could not lodge a claim while his grievance was ongoing. It found, however, that he had access to a trade union representative, the CAB and internet research, and that he had not made enquiries until very late. It concluded that it was reasonably practicable for him to have lodged the claim in time and that his ignorance of the time limit was not reasonable. The tribunal therefore held that it had no jurisdiction to consider the complaint.