ETZ 4(WR) EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 4103680/2020 (V) Hearing by Cloud Video Platform (CVP) on November 2020 Employment Judge: M A Macleod Miss A Young v ’s Mother JD Sports Fashion plc — 2021

The claimant brought a claim complaining that the respondent had unlawfully deprived her of pay to which she said she was contractually entitled, arising from a bonus payment. The tribunal treated the issue as one of jurisdiction because the claim had been presented out of time. The claimant’s employment ended on 21 February 2020, the bonus would have been payable in her February salary around 25 February 2020, and the tribunal found the claim should have been presented by 24 May 2020.

The claimant contacted ACAS on 3 July 2020 and presented the claim on 9 July 2020. She said she delayed because she was dealing with stressful personal circumstances, wanted to await the outcome of an internal grievance, and did not know the tribunal time limit until 3 July 2020. The tribunal accepted that she had difficult circumstances and that the respondent’s grievance process had taken longer than she expected, but held that this did not make it not reasonably practicable for her to have brought the claim on time.

Applying the authorities it cited on the time-limit question, including section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, Porter v Bandridge Ltd, Palmer & Saunders v Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, Trevelyans (Birmingham) Ltd v Norton, and John Lewis Partnership v Charman, the tribunal concluded that the claimant could have researched the position earlier and could have lodged the claim without waiting for the grievance outcome. It found that responsibility for the late presentation lay with the claimant and that the claim was time-barred. The judgment therefore dismissed the claim for want of jurisdiction and recorded no monetary award.