ETZ 4(WR) EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 4106981/2019 Preliminary Hearing at Edinburgh on October 2019 Employment Judge: M A Macleod Raffaele Grasso v Represented by Ms R Mohamed Solicitor John McMenamin Limited — 2019

At a preliminary hearing on 17 October 2019, Employment Judge Macleod considered whether the claimant's claims were out of time. The claimant said he had been unfairly dismissed and unlawfully deprived of contractual payments on termination. The respondent initially argued that the tribunal lacked jurisdiction because of the way the claim had been presented.

The evidence showed that the claim had first been attempted in May 2019 and again in June 2019, but the tribunal rejected it because the correct early conciliation number had not been provided and because the respondent's name on the claim form did not match the early conciliation certificate. The later documents showed that ACAS had issued an early conciliation certificate on 18 April 2019 and that the discrepancy in the respondent's name was a typographical error.

The judge held that it was not reasonably practicable for the claim to be presented within the statutory timescale because of that confusion, and that the claim was then presented within such further time as was reasonable. He said it was in the interests of justice to allow the claim to proceed because the error was outside the claimant's control. The respondent's representative accepted that the time-bar argument should not be insisted upon, and the case was allowed to proceed to a full hearing on the merits.