The time for bringing a claim in an Employment Tribunal is very strictly applied so do not delay, contact Horizon Solicitors as soon as possible to discuss your case in more detail.

Timescales

The time for bringing a claim in an Employment Tribunal is very strictly applied. If you fail to bring your claim in time, then the Tribunal may not have jurisdiction to hear the claim. Contact us as soon as possible to discuss your case in more detail.

Unfair Dismissal

An unfair dismissal claim usually has to be presented to a tribunal before the end of the three month period starting with your effective date of termination. So if notice is given, this is the day on which your notice period expires. If no notice was given, for example as in summary dismissal, this is the date on which you learnt of your dismissal or had a reasonable opportunity of learning of your dismissal, if for example, by post.

Please note, the time limit is not extended by any ongoing appeal procedure, the clock is ticking from the effective date of termination, even if reinstatement is a possibility.

Therefore, if your employment notice period ends on 11th June and your appeal hearing is 11th July, your unfair dismissal claim must still be presented to the Tribunal on or before 10th September, unless that deadline has been extended by participation in ACAS pre-claims conciliation (please refer to the section Employment Tribunal Claims for further details).

A Tribunal may only extend the time period if:-

• it was “not reasonably practicable” for the claim to be presented in time (for example sickness or a postal strike – sending a fax or email 9 seconds too late is not enough), AND
• the claim was nevertheless presented “within such further period as the Tribunal considers reasonable” (straight away as soon as you are able to)

Discrimination claims

The time limit for a discrimination claim to be presented to the Employment Tribunal is normally three months starting with the date of the act to which the complaint relates.

Acts occurring more than three months before the claim is brought may still form the basis of the claim if they are part of continuing series of events, and the claim is brought within three months of the end of that period.

A Tribunal may only extend the time period if it considers that it is “just and equitable” to do so, and this would involve you providing evidence of the reasons for the delay, and it is important to note that the Tribunal is under no duty to extend time.

So do not delay, call Horizon today.