Satisfaction of Early Conciliation requirements
EAT Practice and Procedure: Preliminary Issues – This appeal raises a question of procedure in relation to the early conciliation provisions introduced by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, namely whether an early conciliation certificate obtained by a ‘prospective claimant’ can cover future events. The Employment Judge held that it could, and on the facts of the present case, although the Claimant’s resignation underlying her constructive unfair dismissal complaint occurred after the early conciliation certificate was issued, the proceedings related to a sequence of events that were in issue between the parties at the time of the early conciliation process, and the Claimant had accordingly satisfied the early conciliation requirement in relation to her constructive unfair dismissal complaint.
The appeal fails. The words ‘relating to any matter’ are ordinary English words that have their ordinary meaning. Parliament deliberately used flexible language capable of a broad meaning both by reference to the necessary link between the proceedings and any matter and by reference to the word ‘matter’ itself. It is not useful to provide synonyms for the words used by Parliament. Provided that there are or were matters between the parties whose names and addresses were notified in the prescribed manner, and they are related to the proceedings instituted, that is sufficient to fulfil the requirements of section 18A(1) Employment Tribunals Act 1996.
Simler DBE P J
[2016] UKEAT 0060 – 16 – 2607, [2017] ICR 73, [2016] IRLR 924
Bailii
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Science Warehouse Ltd v Mills EAT 9-Oct-2015
EAT Practice and Procedure : Amendment – Amendment of an ET claim to add a new cause of action – ACAS Early Conciliation (Section 18A Employment Tribunals Act 1996 (as amended))
At a Preliminary Hearing, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.570381