Mr A Rocha v Bruno Saverio: 1805160/2020
JUDGMENT
The complaint that the claimant was unfairly dismissed is struck out.REASONS
[2]Section 108 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires a claimant to have not less than two years’ service to make an unfair dismissal complaint.[3]The claimant was employed by the respondent for less than two years.[4]Therefore the claimant is not entitled to bring such a complaint.[5]The claimant has failed to give an acceptable reason, despite being given the opportunity to do so, why the complaint should not be struck out.[6]Accordingly, the complaint of unfair dismissal is struck out. The claimant’s other complaints are not affected by this judgment. Employment Judge Deeley 2 October 2020[1]Mr Rocha brought a claim alleging that his former employer, the Respondent, had unfairly dismissed him and owed him notice pay. The Respondent did not enter a response to the claim. The claim of unfair dismissal was nevertheless dismissed because Mr Rocha did not have the two years’ service with the Respondent that he needed to qualify to bring that claim.[2]At the Hearing of his claim for notice pay, Mr Rocha failed to attend. He could not, therefore, explain why his claim had not been presented to the Tribunal until 4 September 2020, even though his employment with the Respondent Case No. 1805160/2020 2 ended on 17 March 2020. There is a three-month time limit for bringing a claim for notice pay. Even taking into account the one-month extension for early conciliation by ACAS, Mr Rocha had presented his claim five weeks out of time. A Tribunal can hear a late claim, but only if it is satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for the claim to have been brought within three months and that it has been brought within a further reasonable period.[3]In the absence of any evidence from Mr Rocha about these matters, the Tribunal concluded that it had no power to hear his claim because it had been brought out of time and dismissed it.