Claim can be brought 6 years out of time

In quite a surprising EAT decision, Higgins v Home Office and another held that a Tribunal did not have proper grounds to reject a claim which had been lodged 6 years out of time. The EAT considered that the Tribunal had not properly explained the reasons why it was rejecting the claim lodged so late and the EAT confirmed that Orders rejecting claims under rule 12 of the Employment Tribunal (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations should only be used in the most obvious cases. There was medical evidence before the Tribunal that the Claimant had not been well enough to conduct or participate in proceedings for the 6 years before she lodged the claim due to mental health issues which the Tribunal had seemingly ignored.

This legal update is provided for general information purposes only and should not be applied to specific circumstances without prior consultation with us.

For further details on any of the issues covered in this update please contact Gemma Ospedale, Partner in Employment on 020 7583 2222.