C Aslan v Intra Private Finance Ltd: 3200251/2024
JUDGMENT
The claims are dismissed.REASONS
[1]The claim is of unfair dismissal, and for breach of contract (commission due at the end of employment), holiday pay and wages.[2]Ms Aslan was a mortgage broker with the Respondent (that was their business).[3]Following a video meeting, during which she considered the owner of the Respondent to have acted in an unacceptable way, she resigned on 18 September 2023, by email, giving a month’s notice. Hence, she put in her claim form the date of 18 October 2023 as her effective date of termination. She was working from home, and the Respondent put her on garden leave and disconnected her from the Respondent’s systems.[4]On 28 September 2023 the owner of the Respondent emailed Ms Aslan stating that she was summarily dismissed (from 25th but that was not effective until the email was received on 28 September 2023). He alleged that she had been contacting the Respondent’s clients during her garden leave. Ms Aslan denies this. Case Number: 3200251/2024[5]There was then an exchange of emails between Ms Aslan and the manager of the Respondent indicating that Ms Aslan could look for work, but this was not any retraction of the dismissal.[6]Ms Aslan sought and found another role. She was busy looking for a role, and when she had obtained the role (in early November 2023) she was busy establishing herself in it. She was also much caught up in family matters.[7]In mid mid-December 2023 she sought advice from Acas, having learned that an early conciliation certificate was required before she could bring her claim.[8]Unfortunately, although Acas told her of the time limit, she did not apply for the early conciliation certificate until 09 January 2024. The three-month time limit expired on 27 December 2023, and so there is no extension of time by reason of the early conciliation process. The certificate was issued on 24 January 2024, and the claim issued on 31 January 2024.[9]Had there been an application for an early conciliation certificate in midDecember, and the certificate issued a month later, in mid-January 2024, the claim would have been in time, as it would have been within one month of the issue of the early conciliation certificate. However, that was not what happened.[10]The power to extend time can only be exercised if it was not reasonably practicable to issue the claim in time (and then it was issued within a further period that was reasonable).[11]It was possible for Ms Aslan to issue the claim in time. That she was very busy did not make it not reasonably practicable to issue the claim in time. It takes no more than about 5 minutes to apply for an Acas early conciliation certificate, and before the limitation period expired Ms Aslan knew that she needed to get one in order to start a claim.[12]As it was reasonably practicable for Ms Aslan to issue the claim in time I must dismiss her claims, all of which have the same difficulty.