Jurisdictional Points : Extension of Time: just and equitable
The Claimant had lodged his claims of unfair and wrongly dismissal and of disability discrimination out of time. The ET had decided that time should b3e extended, having found that the Claimant, because of his particular vulnerabilities, had reasonably handed the claim to his brother to deal with and that his brother had genuinely believed that the date of dismissal was when the Claimant’s brother’s mistaken view was reasonable given the unclear nature of the Respondent’s letter. If found that it had not been reasonable period thereafter. It further found that it would be just and equitable to extend time, there being no prejudice to the Respondent in doing so.
The Respondent appealed
Held: dismissing the appeal
The ET has applied the correct legal tests. It had made a finding as to the Claimant’s brother’s genuine subjective but had then gone on to determine that this was objective reasonable given the lack of clarity in the Respondent’s letter. It could not be said that finding was perverse. Once the ET had found that the impediment to the in-0time presentation of the Claimant’s claim arose from the reasonable misunderstanding as to the date of dismissal, the other objections taken by the Respondent fell away. This was not a misunderstanding of law but of fact and the mistaken belief as to when time stared to run meant that further researches as to the operation of the time limit would not have assisted. As for the discrimination claim, a broader test applied. The ET was not bound to require the Claimant to demonstrate a good explanation for his delay but, in any event, had found that he had explained the position. It was entitled to focus on the question of comparative prejudice. The conclusion reached disclosed no error of law.
Citations:
[2019] UKEAT 0277 – 18 – 2503
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 08 July 2022; Ref: scu.638492