Mr F Mitchell v RGS Forfar — 2023

Mr Mitchell presented an unfair dismissal claim on 7 April 2023. This hearing was limited to the respondent's Rule 20 application for an extension of time to lodge its ET3, which was due by 10 May 2023. The tribunal heard evidence from Gordon Skea, William Skea and Graham Kinghorn, and it made clear that it was not making findings about the events that gave rise to the dismissal claim.

The tribunal found that the respondent had a genuine explanation for the delay. It accepted that the Tribunal's claim papers did not reach the relevant officers of the company in time and that the first person with the requisite authority to deal with the matter saw the correspondence on 9 June 2023, when GK was handed an envelope containing Tribunal papers. The tribunal noted that the respondent was in its peak business period, but there was no evidence that the correspondence had simply been put to one side because of workload.

In deciding whether to extend time, the tribunal considered the proposed ET3, which it said disclosed a statable defence to unfair dismissal based on redundancy or some other substantial reason. It also weighed the prejudice to each side and concluded that the respondent would suffer significant prejudice if refused the extension, whereas the claimant would suffer only limited prejudice from the short delay. Applying Rule 20 and the principles in Kwik Save Stores Ltd v Swain and Moroak (t/a Blake Envelopes) v Cromie, the tribunal granted the application and extended the time for lodging the ET3 to 24 July 2023. It expressly said it had reached no view on whether the unfair dismissal claim would ultimately succeed.