If you want to make a claim for unfair dismissal, you don’t want to leave it too late.
Usually, claims to the employment tribunal must be made within three months. For claims to do with redundancy payments or equal pay, it’s usually six months.
Either way, it means you have to prepare your case in good time.
If you have a problem at work, there are a number of steps to follow:
- Discuss the problem informally with your employer
If that doesn’t work… - Go through your employer’s formal grievance procedure
If that doesn’t work… - Tell Acas (or the LRA in NI) you want to make a claim to the employment tribunal, and consider going through their free early conciliation service (this extends the limitation date)
If that doesn’t work… - Take advice from an employment lawyer (like us). We’ll help build your case and advise how much you could win in compensation. As the employee, it doesn’t cost you anything to do this, as your employer should pay our fee
- Make your claim within one calendar month of receiving the early conciliation certificate
The current pandemic hasn’t made a difference to these limitation dates, and the deadlines are rigidly enforced. For example, here’s the story of a solicitor whose claim was dismissed because she brought it too late.
Case study
Ms S Dillon started work at the Crown Prosecution Service in 1982 and had been a specialist prosecutor since 2003.
She was off sick from January 2019 due to stress at work. She took professional advice about her illness, and went away for a week to visit her son in Barcelona. A few weeks later, in April, she raised an official grievance and attended a two-hour meeting. In August, she resigned.
In November, she received the outcome of the grievance, but didn’t get the grievance investigator’s report until January 2020.
This meant she didn’t raise her claim for constructive dismissal until February. Ms Dillon argued that she was exempt from the usual three-month limit because she was too unwell, didn’t know the time limit, and was awaiting the documentation so could not have acted any sooner.
Mrs Woffenden, the tribunal judge, found no evidence that her condition had changed during the initial three-month claim period. She was able to instruct solicitors, attend the grievance meeting and travel to Spain, so she should have been able to find out the limitation date.
What this means to you
Ms Dillon waited over five months after her resignation, when the limit for unfair dismissal claims is three.
If you’re in a difficult situation at work where you think you might want to make a claim, talk to us sooner rather than later. We’ll help ensure you have everything ready in time.
Further reading
For more information on this subject, you might find our other articles useful:
- Exemptions to unfair dismissal qualifying period
- Have I been dismissed? Unfair dismissal questions answered
- How do I claim for unfair dismissal?
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