Claim rejected due to incorrect early conciliation number

In Sterling v United Learning Trust, the EAT has upheld an Employment Tribunal decision that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the claim which was submitted out of time. The claim had originally been filed within the limitation date but with the wrong ACAS early conciliation number. The Tribunal sent the claim form back to the Claimant to correct it but it was sent to the wrong address. By the time it was received by the Claimant, who corrected it and resubmitted the form, it was out of time. The Claimant’s representative failed to raise an argument that it was not reasonably practicable for her to re-submit the claim on time and had failed to apply for a reconsideration.

As such the Tribunal was entitled to reject the claim as it did not contain the required information as required by Rule 10 of the Tribunals Rules.

A salutary lesson for the representative…

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.