Pugh v National Assembly for Wales: EAT 26 Sep 2006

EAT The ET dismissed as premature the Claimant”s application for disability discrimination because the application was made less than 28 days after the Claimant”s grievance had been raised in a letter dated 21st April 2005. In fact there was an earlier letter that constituted a written grievance that was before the ET but its significance was overlooked. In the circumstances the Claimant was not precluded from arguing on appeal that the earlier letter constituted such a written grievance for the purposes of S32 and paragraphs 6 or 9 of Schedule 2 of the Employment Act 2002.
2. The ET had failed to have regard to the guidance set out in Hendricks v Commissioner of Police [2003] IRLR 96 as to the meaning of ”an act extending over a period ” set out in paragraph 3, Schedule 1 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and had taken too restrictive a view of the matter.
The decision in Hendricks v Commissioner of Police is to be preferred to that in Robertson v Bexley Community Centre in relation to the meaning of ”an act extending over a period”. Hendricks v Commissioner of Police was not cited in the latter case.
In cases where there is an issue as to whether an ET has jurisdiction to determine all or part of a claim because ”an act extending over a period” is said to be a series of acts some or all of which occurred outside the 3 month limitation period, the Claimant must show a good arguable case or a prima facie case that the matters complained of did constitute such an act.

Judges:

His Honour Judge Serota QC

Citations:

[2006] UKEAT 0251 – 06 – 2609, UKEAT/0251/06

Links:

Bailii, EAT

Statutes:

Employment Act 2002 32

Citing:

CitedShergold v Fieldway Medical Centre EAT 5-Dec-2005
The claimant had submitted a grievance complaining in general terms of the way in which she had been treated by a manager. She did not, however, refer to a particular incident relied on in her pleading as one of the two ‘last straw’ incidents that . .

Cited by:

CitedNovak v Phones 4U Ltd EAT 14-Sep-2012
EAT Race Discrimination : Continuing Act – The Claimant complained of entries made on Facebook by work colleagues, said to be acts of discrimination on the grounds of disability and nationality. He was found to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Discrimination

Updated: 07 July 2022; Ref: scu.245128