Mr Piotr Rozniakowski v Castle MacLellan Foods Limited — 2022

Mr Piotr Rozniakowski, who was employed by Castle MacLellan Foods Limited from 1 October 2019 to 9 April 2021, presented his ET1 on 28 August 2021. He complained of race discrimination and victimisation arising from matters including an unsuccessful application for a Production Supervisor vacancy in September 2020, an unsuccessful application for a Line Leader vacancy in early 2021, grievances raised in October 2020 and April 2021, and the end of his employment. The ET1 referred to ACAS certificate R148491/21/41 issued on 30 July 2021, although an earlier ACAS certificate, R122428/21/62, had been issued on 23 April 2021.

The tribunal held that the July 2021 certificate was not a valid ACAS certificate for section 18A purposes because there had already been a certificate issued for the same matter. On that basis, the ET1 should have been considered for rejection under Rule 12. However, applying Rule 12(2ZA), the judge found that the claimant had made an error in using the later certificate number, accepted that this was an honest mistake, and decided that it would not be in the interests of justice to reject the claim.

The tribunal then found that the claim had been presented out of time for the purposes of section 123 of the Equality Act 2010, but that it was just and equitable to extend time. In reaching that conclusion, the judge took account of the length of the delay, the claimant's knowledge of the underlying facts by spring 2021, advice he had received from ACAS and CAB about the three-month limit, his pursuit of internal grievance procedures, and the absence of demonstrated forensic prejudice to the respondents. The judge therefore allowed all of the claimant's allegations to proceed to a further case management preliminary hearing and, if appropriate, a final hearing; no merits decision or monetary award was made at this stage.