Ms E Muir v Muir Slicer Associates Ltd — 2024

All five claimants' employment ended on 27 February 2023 after Ms Marie Muir emailed that the respondent was unable to continue in business and had ceased to trade. The tribunal found that the claimants then took steps to seek advice from ACAS, the CAB and solicitors, and that the claims were lodged between 21 September and 18 October 2023.

The tribunal held that the unfair dismissal, breach of contract/notice pay, holiday pay and arrears of pay claims were out of time. Applying the 'not reasonably practicable' test as summarised in Lowri Beck Services Ltd v Brophy and the authorities cited in the judgment, it found that the claimants knew they should seek advice but did not act on it in time, so their ignorance of the time limits was not reasonable. Those claims were therefore dismissed.

For redundancy pay, the tribunal applied s.164 ERA 1996 and the early conciliation extension. It held that the first, second, fourth and fifth claimants' redundancy claims were in time when presented on 21 September 2023, and that Miss Horsley's late claim could still succeed because it was just and equitable for her to receive a redundancy payment. Under s.162 ERA 1996, using the statutory cap of £571 a week and each claimant's continuous service, it awarded £15,988 to Ms E Muir, £15,000 to Mr A Spicer, £2,430 to Miss Horsley, £1,795.50 to Miss Beggs and £13,511.17 to Mr J D Maxwell, a total of £48,724.67.