Ms H Wallace v The Heartfelt Funeral Company Ltd: 3200157/2026

EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS

Case No 3200157/2026

Between

Ms Hannah WallaceClaimant

The Heartfelt Funeral Company LimitedRespondent

Before

Employment Judge Gardiner

Date 12 August 2026

JUDGMENT

The judgment of the Tribunal is that:- The Claimant’s unfair dismissal claim is struck out under Rule 38(1)(a) Employment Tribunal Rules 2024 on the basis that it has no reasonable prospect of success. The Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to consider this claim.

REASONS

[1]On 4 August 2026, the Tribunal wrote to the parties on the instructions of Employment Judge Beyzade. He noted that under Section 108 Employment Rights Act 1996, claimants are not entitled to bring a complaint of unfair dismissal unless they were employed for two years or more except in specific circumstances which do not seem to apply in the Claimant’s case. He stated that it appears that the Claimant had been employed for less than two years and indicated that an Employment Judge was proposing to strike out the claim. He invited the Claimant to provide reasons in writing why the claim should not be struck out.

[2]The Claimant responded setting out her reasons on 11 August 2026 within the deadline provided by the Tribunal.

[3]The Claimant started work with the Respondent on 18 September 2023. She was dismissed with immediate effect by email on 10 September 2025. The fact that she only read the email in full around 12 September 2025 does not change the last date of her employment for the purposes of calculating her effective date of termination. Case Number: 3200157/2026

[4]The Claimant’s effective date of termination for the purpose of assessing the length of qualifying service is deemed to be one week after the date on which notice of termination was given. This is the effect of Section 97(2) Employment Rights Act 1996 in circumstances where the Claimant had been employed for more than one month but less than two years, as explained in Virgin Net Limited v Harper

[2004] IRLR 390

. For the purposes of calculating the period of continuous employment to qualify to bring an unfair dismissal claim, the Claimant is entitled to add her statutory notice period to the date on which her employment would otherwise have ended. This deems her effective date of termination to be 17 September 2025, thereby extending the totality of her qualifying service.

[5]The deemed effective date of termination is one day before the second anniversary of the start of her employment. She therefore has less than two years qualifying service.

[6]Where contractual notice periods are longer than statutory notice periods, these contractual notice periods do not extend the effective date of termination. The Claimant therefore cannot rely on a longer contractual notice period so as to create a later effective date of termination.

[7]The Tribunal therefore lacks jurisdiction to consider her unfair dismissal complaint on its merits. As a result, the Final Hearing due to take place on 18 and 19 August 2026 is vacated. Approved by