Case 4111249/2019 · Employment Tribunal
Ms Valerie Joyce v - Solicitor The Beeches Home Care Agency Ltd — 2020
- Case reference
- 4111249/2019
- Decision date
- 25 February 2020
- Jurisdiction
- Scotland
- Judge
- Employment Judge I McPherson
- Venue
- Glasgow
Parties
2 namedClaimant
Ms Valerie Joyce
Key findings
Tribunal's reasoningThe claimant, Ms Valerie Joyce, presented her ET1 on 26 September 2019 alleging unfair dismissal, disability discrimination, whistleblowing disclosures and notice pay/breach of contract issues. The respondents had not lodged an ET3 by the 1 November 2019 deadline, and when the case called on 17 February 2020 the listed final hearing was converted into a preliminary hearing to deal with their late response application.
After the respondents appeared later that day, their managing director explained that Tribunal paperwork had been misplaced during an office refurbishment and said the company intended to defend the claim. Applying the factors discussed in Grant v Asda, Kwik Save Stores Ltd v Swain and Pendragon plc v Copus, the tribunal exercised its discretion under Rule 20 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013 to extend time, accepted the late ET3, and directed that the case proceed as defended on both liability and remedy.
As part of the same order, the respondents undertook to pay the claimant's solicitors £540 within 7 days, being £450 plus VAT for preparation for and attendance at the aborted hearing. The tribunal also listed a further case management preliminary hearing for 26 March 2020. No merits finding was made in this judgment on the underlying unfair dismissal, disability discrimination, whistleblowing or contract claims.
Claims and outcomes
1 finding recorded| Claim type | Issue or finding | Outcome | Protected characteristic | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other | The tribunal granted the respondents' Rule 20 application to extend time, accepted the late ET3 response, and ordered payment of £540 legal expenses. The underlying unfair dismissal, disability discrimination, whistleblowing and notice pay/breach of contract matters were not determined in this judgment. | Upheld | — | £540 |
Remedy
Monetary award- Total award
- £540
- across all upheld claims
Legal tests applied
6 references- Rule 20 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013
- Rule 2 overriding objective
- Grant v Asda
- Kwik Save Stores Ltd v Swain
- Pendragon plc t/a (CD Brammall Bradford) v Copus
- Costellow v Somerset County Council
Official outcome judgment PDF
Gov.uk primary recordThe official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.
Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we got this data
Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.
Named in this case and want it removed? Submit a takedown request. The page will be withdrawn on receipt and the editor will follow up within five working days.