ETZ 4(WR) EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 8000554/2023 Preliminary Hearing by Cloud Video Platform at Edinburgh on April 2024 Employment Judge: M A Macleod Dax MacPherson v NIC Services Group Ltd — 2024

The claimant was employed by the respondent from 17 August 2017 until his dismissal for conduct on 6 July 2023. He presented claims for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination on 1 November 2023. The Tribunal found that the claims should have been presented by 5 October 2023 and that the claimant did not obtain any extension from ACAS early conciliation because he contacted ACAS after the statutory time limit had expired.

For the unfair dismissal claim, the Tribunal considered the claimant's reliance on ignorance of time limits, advice said to have been given by ACAS and UNITE, and his belief that he should await the appeal outcome. It found that there was nothing preventing him from presenting the claim within three months, that he could have checked the time limit, and that it was not prepared to accept unclear evidence that both ACAS and UNITE had misled him. The Tribunal also said that, even if timely presentation had not been reasonably practicable, it would not have been satisfied that the claim was presented within a further reasonable period.

For the disability discrimination claim, the Tribunal considered whether it was just and equitable to extend time. It accepted that the cogency of evidence was unlikely to be affected by the delay and that refusal caused greater prejudice to the claimant than allowing the claim to proceed would cause to the respondent. However, it found that the claimant had not advanced a good reason for the late presentation, and decided that it was not just and equitable to extend time. Both claims were dismissed for want of jurisdiction.