Don’t shoot the messenger….

by Philip

………Or in this case the postman.

The EAT in a robust decision rejected two appeal for being late. The time limit for lodging an appeal is 42 days from the date the Tribunal decision was sent to the parties.

The EAT have limited bandwidth to accept late claims.

In both appeals the Appellants’ representatives had sent the appeal papers by post before the time limit had expired.

One had sent it two days before expiry. The postal service was such that the appeal arrived late.

The second appeal was sent originally to the Tribunal office that had made the decision. As the Simpsons may say: Doh! and was sent with an incorrect case number-double doh!

Both parties representatives had to appear on oath at the EAT and be cross examined by the judge to explain their actions.

Needless to say both appeals were out of time.

Points arising:

• The EAT was less than impressed by the fact that one representative had sat on his thumbs for the first five weeks of the 42 limitation period.
• The EAT was less than impressed by the fact that once the appeal was committed to the post, both representatives sat on their “laurels” and did nothing to check that the appeal had arrived.

Learning points:

• Do not leave claims or Appeals to the last moment.
• Do not use the post, unless you use guarenteed next day delivery.
• Check that the office you have sent the claim or appeal to has received it.

Pretty basic stuff but many representatives seem to be hardwired to leave everything until the last moment.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 3:17 pm and is filed under Employment Tribunal Procedure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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