Normally, claims in the Employment Tribunal have to be made within 3 months of the incident that is being complained of. If the claim is received by the Tribunal even a few minutes late, it is unlikely to be allowed.
Let's take an unfair dismissal claim as an example. The Tribunal claim will have to be received by the Tribunal within 3 months of the "effective date of termination" of employment or EDT.
The word "within" is important. If the employee receives notification of their dismissal on 30 June, the 3 months expires on 29 September, NOT 30 September.
It is also important to note that, in this example, the Tribunal must have actually received the Claim Form by 29 September. In one particular case, a claim was not allowed because although the claim had been submitted online a few seconds before midnight on the last day, it was not received by the Tribunal until a few seconds after the last day. This was the case even though the Tribunal would not have been open until 8 or 9 hours later.
Sometimes, late claims are allowed if there are extenuating circumstances but as there are normally 3 months to bring a claim anyway, why wait until the last minute ?
If you think you are late, or you are unsure, you should take advice just in case you are wrong and, even if you are late, it may still be possible to bring a claim, so take advice.
There are some claims which may have a longer time limit to bring a claim, for example 6 months for equal pay claims, but advice should always be sought.
UPDATE:
This post was written in September 2011. In the summer of 2013 there will be significant changes to Employment Tribunal procedures which will be the subject of further posts.
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Disclaimer
This blog post is intended for information only. It is not intended to amount to legal advice or be relied on in legal proceedings and readers are advised to take specialist legal advice at all times.
