Mr Brandon Duffy v Dramsip Limited — 2024

At the preliminary hearing on 5 February 2024, Mr Duffy withdrew the Equality Act 2010 claims and the tribunal dismissed them under rule 52. The remaining complaints were whistleblowing, unfair dismissal and breach of contract. For limitation purposes, the tribunal treated 1 October 2022 as the termination date. Mr Duffy accepted that he did not have two years' continuous service for ordinary unfair dismissal and said his case was instead based on a protected disclosure said to have been made on 30 July 2022 about theft, drugs and discrimination.

The tribunal applied the 'not reasonably practicable' test, referring to Dedman v British Building and Engineering Appliances Limited, Wall's Meat Co Ltd v Khan, Palmer and another v Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, Asda Stores Limited v Kauser and Cygnet Behavioural Health v Britton. It accepted medical evidence that, because of his health, it was not reasonably practicable for Mr Duffy to present the claims within the primary time limit.

The tribunal nevertheless found that from January 2023 he was able to pursue subject access requests, ACAS early conciliation and related proceedings against SG and others. It found that he knew the essential facts by then, and that at the latest by February 2023 and certainly by March 2023 it would have been reasonable to bring claims against Dramsip Limited. The tribunal held that waiting until 20 July 2023 was not reasonable, so it lacked jurisdiction under section 111 ERA 1996, section 48 ERA 1996 and article 7 of the Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (Scotland) Order 1994. No monetary award was made.