Mrs Y Lees v Thornhill Glass & Glazing Limited — 2019

This was a preliminary hearing on whether the claimant’s unfair dismissal complaint, presented on 11 June 2019, was out of time. The tribunal found that employment ended on 26 October 2018, that the ACAS early conciliation certificate was issued on 18 December 2018, and that the statutory deadline for presenting the claim was 23 February 2019. The claimant said she had believed the ET1 should be returned to ACAS because ACAS had sent it to her and she did not distinguish between ACAS and the Employment Tribunal Service.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had carried out internet research, contacted the CAB, and spoken to ACAS, but it found no evidence that ACAS had told her to return the ET1 to ACAS rather than to the tribunal. It relied on the ACAS emails, which made clear that conciliation would not resume until the tribunal had accepted the claim, and on the ET1 checklist, which stated that the completed form should be sent to the relevant office address. Applying section 111(2)(b) ERA 1996 and the authorities cited, including Walls Meat, Deadman and Asda Stores Ltd v Causer, the tribunal held that it was reasonable to expect the claimant to have submitted the claim in time.

Because the tribunal was not satisfied that it had not been reasonably practicable to present the complaint within the three-month period, it refused to extend time. It therefore did not go on to consider whether the claim had been presented within a further reasonable period, and concluded that it had no jurisdiction to consider the unfair dismissal complaint.