05 April 2017

Claimants will on occasion involve the ACAS Early Conciliation Scheme on more than one occasion. This is what happened in the case of 'HMRC v Garau'.

11 days after having been given notice of termination of his employment the Claimant contacted the ACAS early conciliation. ACAS issued an early conciliation certificate on 4 November 2015. The Claimant’s employment was to end on 30 December 2015. On 28 March 2016 the Claimant contacted ACAS again with another certificate being issued this time on 25 April 2016. The question was whether or not the second approach to ACAS and the issuing of the second certificate had any impact upon the time for lodging a claim.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the legislation that created the Early Conciliation Scheme (with the associated “stop the clock” provision in relation to the time limits for lodging a claim) allowed for only one certificate to be required for 'proceedings relating to any matter'. A second certificate issued by ACAS did not affect the original time limit. It is only the initial approach to ACAS via the Early Conciliation scheme which will alter the time limit for lodging claims (in most cases).

This serves as a useful reminder, particularly for Claimants (and their advisers), to ensure that the issue regarding time limits is not taken lightly. Care is needed to assess whether or not the Early Conciliation rules have been followed and correctly applied. The law continues to develop in this area which is of considerable importance. Being clear as to the dates for lodging claims and the limited rules which allow these limits to change is of crucial importance.

The case report can be found at: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2017/0348_16_2403.html

To discuss further please contact one of our BTO employment lawyers on 0141 221 8012.