Ms E Myers v Not present or represented Fonab Castle Hotel Ltd — 2025

The claimant presented her ET1 on 24 January 2025, after ACAS early conciliation had run from 26 November 2024 to 2 December 2024. She said she had been employed from 7 July 2024 until 21 September 2024, while the respondent said she had resigned on 12 August 2024 and that 19 August 2024 was the effective date of termination. At the hearing on 24 March 2025 the claimant did not attend and sent an email apologising and saying she had not completed the test or contacted witnesses. The tribunal proceeded in her absence under Rule 47 and accepted that the correct respondent was Fonab Castle Hotel Ltd.

On the papers, the tribunal considered that the only matter potentially within its jurisdiction was a claim for holiday pay. The claimant's references to bullying, loss of possessions, and difficulties with colleagues were not treated as tribunal claims, and she did not link those matters to any protected characteristic. The tribunal also noted that she had less than two years' service and therefore could not bring a claim of unfair constructive dismissal.

The holiday pay claim was held to be out of time. The respondent's final payslip, dated 23 August 2024, showed final pay including holiday pay paid on 30 August 2024. Even if the tribunal accepted the claimant's own later date of 21 September 2024, the claim should have been presented by 20 December 2024. The tribunal said the ACAS stop-the-clock provision would extend time only to 26 December 2024, or at most to 2 January 2025 on the alternative calculation it mentioned, but the ET1 was not submitted until 24 January 2025. The claimant gave no explanation that it was not reasonably practicable to present the claim in time, and the tribunal said the claim would in any event be struck out under Rule 38, so it was dismissed.