Miss S Mohammed v Discover the World Limited — 2025

This was a preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Macey on 22 October 2025 dealing with the respondent's strike-out application and limitation issues. The claimant had started work on 9 August 2022 and her employment ended on 5 July 2024. She presented her tribunal claim on 8 January 2025 after ACAS early conciliation from 2 October 2024 to 13 November 2024. At the hearing, the claimant withdrew the automatic unfair dismissal complaint based on protected disclosure and the detriment complaint based on protected disclosure.

The tribunal held that it had no jurisdiction to hear the unfair dismissal claim because the claimant had less than two years' continuous service, applying section 108 ERA 1996. It also struck out the breach of contract complaint about notice pay and the unlawful deduction complaint about accrued holiday pay under Rule 38(1)(a) of the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2024. The tribunal found that those claims were presented 26 days late, that the relevant deadline after early conciliation was 13 December 2024, and that although the claimant had ongoing homelessness, mental health difficulties, menopause symptoms and a November 2024 hysteroscopy and biopsy, those matters did not themselves prevent presentation in time.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had been genuinely confused about how the ACAS extension operated, but found that the real issue was a misunderstanding of the deadline rather than any misinformation from ACAS or anyone else. Because she had been in contact with ACAS in the relevant period and did not seek clear guidance on the filing deadline, the tribunal concluded that it was reasonably practicable to bring the contract and wages claims in time and that they had no reasonable prospect of success.

The discrimination complaints based on age, race, sex and disability were also 26 days late, but the tribunal refused to strike them out. It found that the claimant's mental health, homelessness, menopause symptoms and the November 2024 procedure had affected her mental acuity and contributed to genuine confusion about the deadline. Balancing prejudice, the tribunal accepted there was some forensic and general prejudice to the respondent, including the departure of one potential witness, but held that the claimant would suffer greater prejudice if time were not extended. It therefore extended time on a just and equitable basis to 8 January 2025, and the discrimination complaints remained live for final hearing. No monetary award was made in this decision.