Mr J Gorski v No appearance and No representation Fatlobster — 2024

The claimant presented a claim in which he ticked the box for whistleblowing and, at a later hearing, the tribunal recorded that the case involved automatic unfair dismissal for having made a protected disclosure and a holiday pay claim. The claimant had stated on his ET1 that his last day of employment was 20 August 2023, while ACAS conciliation appeared to have started on 29 June 2023 and ended on 10 August 2023. The ET1 was not submitted until 23 February 2024, and the tribunal noted that the claims appeared to be time-barred.

When the matter came on for hearing on 2 December 2024, neither party appeared. Applying rule 47, the employment judge considered whether to dismiss the claim or proceed in absence, and concluded that the case could not proceed. The judge held that both claims should have been lodged, or at least early conciliation should have started, no later than 19 November 2023 on the claimant's own stated leaving date, and said that if the claimant had in fact left in or about June, as he had indicated at an earlier hearing before Employment Judge Maclean, the claims were even more out of time.

The tribunal said that the only basis on which it could have had jurisdiction would have been if the claimant showed that it was not reasonably practicable to submit the claim within the three-month time limit and that it was then submitted within a reasonable time thereafter. In the absence of evidence from the claimant, the judge said that such a finding could not be made. The judge also noted that the ET3 had been lodged on behalf of LobLob Limited, which had been dissolved on 28 May 2024, and that the named respondent, Fatlobster, appeared to be the name of a restaurant rather than a legal person. The claims were therefore dismissed.