Ms J Adegun v Represented by: Ms V Toyi - Friend The Scottish Ministers — 2023

The claimant brought a claim presented on 5 September 2022 complaining of unfair constructive dismissal. The hearing on 14 February 2023 was limited to whether she had the necessary qualifying service to bring an unfair dismissal claim. The respondent argued that she did not, relying on the statutory two-year qualifying period under the Employment Rights Act 1996.

The tribunal found that the claimant had previously worked for the respondent as an agency worker until 28 February 2020, then received a conditional offer of permanent appointment by email on 12 March 2020. She signed and returned the acceptance on 13 March 2020 and delivered the required pre-employment documentation on 19 March 2020. However, the tribunal held that this did not mean a contract of employment had begun at that point. The documents made clear that a joining letter would issue only after satisfactory checks, and that a formal offer of employment depended on completion of those checks.

The tribunal found that the joining letter was issued on 8 July 2020 and that the claimant's employment commenced on 20 July 2020. It accepted that Covid and lockdown may have delayed the issuing of the formal offer, but held that those circumstances were not relevant to the legal calculation of length of service. Because the effective date of termination was 6 June 2022, the claimant had less than two years' continuous service.

On that basis, the tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to determine the unfair dismissal claim and dismissed it. No monetary remedy was awarded.