The applicant had been employed under a contract for four hours per week. At the time of the dismissal, the minimum requirement for job security was 16 hours. The later decision of the Lords that that rule was discriminatory served to start her opportunity to make a claim. She had applied later than three months after that decision. The time limits themselves had subsequently been declared to be valid, and therefore the bar to the claim stood. Also, Biggs makes it clear that ignorance of the law does not bear upon the question of reasonable practicability. The decision of the Tribunal accepting jurisdiction was overturned.
EAT Procedural Issues – Employment Tribunal
Judges:
The Honourable Lord Johnston
Citations:
EAT/675/95
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State Employment, ex parte Equal Opportunities Commission and Another HL 4-Mar-1994
The Equal Opportunities Commission sought judicial review to test whether English employment law was in breach of EC law where threshold conditionsions for part time workers to make unfair dismissal and redundancy law claims were discriminatory.
Cited – Biggs v Somerset County Council CA 29-Jan-1996
The employee at the time of her dismissal was expressly debarred by statute from bringing her complaint of unfair dismissal because she was a part-time employee. It was only many years later the statute was held to impugn EU law and had done so . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 05 May 2022; Ref: scu.168294