Tribunal: Trainee should have been aware of time limits
A trainee solicitor’s employment tribunal claims have been thrown out because he gave no credible reason for why they were issued out of time.
Mr SA Ali “had the skills and opportunity to make himself aware of the relevant time limits”, said Employment Judge Buzzard in Liverpool.
Mr Ali, who worked at Burnley firm Clearwater Solicitors, claimed unfair dismissal, breach of contract, sex discrimination, and discrimination by failure to make reasonable adjustments. The alleged discriminatory acts occurred in the first half of 2022.
A previous preliminary hearing determined that his effective date of termination of employment was 24 April 2023. Early conciliation ran from 28 July to 14 August 2023 and Mr Ali presented his claim form on 13 September 2023.
The sole question for Judge Buzzard was whether to grant an extension of time.
He recounted that the claimant was a disabled person in relation to injuries to his legs that occurred in January 2022.
But nothing in his witness statement suggested “how or why this would have prevented him pursuing his claim, especially noting he was fit to return to work as a trainee solicitor by July 2022”.
The judge continued: “On this basis it is found that the claimant was, or should have been, aware of the fact that there are time limits for litigation. If the claimant was not aware of the specific time limits in the employment tribunal, he had the skills and opportunity to make himself aware of the relevant time limits…
“Based on the evidence seen it is difficult to understand how it can be credibly argued that it was not reasonably practicable for the claimant to present his claims of unfair dismissal and for breach of contract in time.
“The claimant has legal training [and] was fully aware of his potential to claim and his rights.”
This meant the claims of unfair dismissal and breach of contract were dismissed as having been presented out of time.
The alleged act of sex discrimination related to a decision made in or around March 2022 and the alleged failure to make reasonable adjustments was found at the previous hearing to have ended in July 2022. But Mr Ali did not complain at the time.
“The claimant has not put forward any credible explanation of the reason why he did not present his claims earlier,” Judge Buzzard said.
It was suggested in submissions that the claimant thought that the time limit ran from the date of dismissal but the judge said there was no evidence to support this and in any event it was not credible.
Judge Buzzard said: “If time limits did not start until the end of employment, this would mean long-serving employees would be able to bring claims against their former employers years, if not decades, after the events complained about.”
Further, with Mr Ali represented by his father, a former solicitor, “it is not credible that two persons with legal training, one of which has qualified as a solicitor, could believe this”.
Another factor was that, as the respondents were not aware of the claims, “they were not afforded the opportunity to preserve evidence at or around the relevant times. This presents a real prejudice to the respondents now being asked to defend their actions”.
Judge Buzzard struck out the claims of discrimination as being out of time too.
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