A lesson for Claimants - get the limitation date right!
by Liam
It is easy to make silly mistakes about dates. The difference between 3 months and 12 weeks as well as the difference between 4 weeks and a month are obvious examples. Remember that February only has 28 days too….most of the time.
In this case at the EAT, a Claimant presented her complaint on 27 October 2005 when in fact the limitation period expired on 26 October 2005. The EAT held that a mistake in calculating the limitation date is not grounds for an extension of time for an unfair dismissal complaint on the “not reasonably practicable” basis.
The Claimant lost the right to pursue her complaint. The moral of this story is if you can’t use a calender(!) don’t leave presenting your complaint until the last day of the limitation period. Even if you can use a calendar, there are still risks associated with leaving the presentation of a complaint to the last minute - the fax machine could fail, your pc could crash or the dog could eat your form!
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