Mr Shaun Goodfellow v Martin’s Building Services — 2023

Mr Shaun Goodfellow brought a claim of unfair dismissal under s.94 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 against Martin’s Building Services. The tribunal recorded that he did not have the two years’ service normally required for the tribunal to hear an unfair dismissal claim under s.108(1) ERA 1996, and that the ET1 did not plead any form of automatic unfair dismissal for which the two-year rule would be disapplied.

The tribunal had written to the claimant on 15 December 2023 warning that it was considering striking out the claim under Rule 37(1)(a) on the basis that the tribunal had no jurisdiction because of the lack of two years’ service. The claimant responded by email on 17 December 2023, stating that he wished to pursue the claim because he believed the dismissal was unfair and that he had been left without a job and without warnings.

The tribunal held that the merits of the dismissal were not the issue. Its reasoning was that it had no legal power to hear the claim in the first place because the claimant had less than two years’ service and had not advanced a pleaded automatic unfair dismissal case. It concluded that the claim had no reasonable prospects of success and that it would not be in the interests of justice to require the parties to continue with proceedings that would inevitably be struck out.