Mr. Alan Kettles – In person v Respondent — 2022

Mr Kettles was dismissed on 5 April 2021 and, through his union representative, presented two ET1 forms before contacting ACAS: the first on 24 May 2021 and the second on 1 June 2021. Both forms included unfair dismissal and redundancy payment claims, and the first also included notice pay. The tribunal held that, because no ACAS early conciliation had been completed and no relevant exemption applied, it had no jurisdiction to consider those claims and the first two ET1s were rightly rejected.

ACAS later issued certificate R143695/21/40 on 4 June 2021, but the claim was not re-presented by one of the methods permitted in Scotland. Instead, on 27 October 2021 Mr Faulds emailed a copy of the second ET1 with the ACAS certificate attached. The tribunal found that, under the Scottish Presidential Practice Direction, a completed ET1 could only be started online, by post, or by hand, so the emailed form was not validly presented under Rule 8(1). The third ET1 also omitted the ACAS certificate number and wrongly stated that an exemption applied.

Applying Rule 12(1)(d) and Rule 12(2), and relying on Pryce v Baxterstorey Ltd and E.On Control Solutions Ltd v Caspall, the tribunal held that the third ET1 must be rejected and returned. The case was therefore disposed of on procedural grounds; the merits of the unfair dismissal, redundancy payment, and notice pay claims were not determined.