How much time do I have to submit an Employment Tribunal claim?
Don’t forget, most claims must generally be received by the Employment Tribunal no later than three months from the date of the last act complained of. You should now normally make use of internal procedures (such as appeals or grievances) before bringing a claim in the Tribunal. –
There are very strict time limits by which claims must be received by the tribunal. Most Employment Tribunal claims must be brought within 3 months less a day from either the date of termination of employment or the date of the act complained of. For example:
- In unfair dismissal and breach of contract claims, time runs from the date of termination;
- In unlawful discrimination and whistle-blowing claims, time runs from the date of the act complained of or the last in a series of acts;
- In unlawful deduction of wages claims, time runs from the date of the deduction or the last in a series of deductions.
Claimants now have to go through the ACAS Early Conciliation Process first before submitting a claim in the Employment Tribunal.
For further information click on the ACAS Early Conciliation process please. Regarding time limits for starting a claim the ACAS leaflet states:
‘Does Early Conciliation affect the timescale to make a tribunal claim?
In order to allow sufficient time for Early Conciliation to take place, changes have been made to the time limits for an employee to bring an Employment Tribunal claim once the Early Conciliation process has been started. These time limits are known as limitation periods. Generally the limitation periods for bringing claims at the Employment Tribunal are either three or six calendar months depending on the nature of the claim. So for example if a person has been dismissed, they would have three calendar months from the date of dismissal to make a claim for unfair dismissal.
‘When the claimant contacts Acas this will ‘pause’ the time limit for presenting their claim to a tribunal. This pause can be for up to one calendar month, plus a further 14 days if more time is needed. The time limit will start to run again when the claimant receives their formal acknowledgement (the Certificate) that Early Conciliation has finished. Once Early Conciliation has ended the claimant will have at least one calendar month in which to present their claim. However, please bear in mind that if the claimant was already late for making a tribunal claim when requesting Early Conciliation s/he will still be late afterwards. It is the claimant’s responsibility to make sure that any claim is presented on time, and only a tribunal can decide whether the claim is in time or not; the Conciliator cannot decide or advise on this point.’
For further information on bringing Employment Tribunal claims from employment solicitors based in London, please call 0207 118 0950 or contact us today.