When you come to us with an employment law enquiry it may often seem that we are obsessed with dates and seem particularly interested in exactly what was said and done on each day. There is a very important reason for this, as found out by the Claimant in the recent case of DeSouza v Manpower UK Ltd.
In this particular case the Claimant issued a claim of race discrimination at work just one day after what is known as the “limitation date”. All legal claims have strict time limits and the Claimant was prevented by the Employment Tribunal from bringing her claim against her former employer because she had missed this limitation date.
The Claimant didn’t like this decision and appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. However, as the original Employment Tribunal had correctly found that the Claimant’s late claim was entirely her fault and there were no exceptional reasons for her delay, the appeal was dismissed.
The importance of issuing a claim on time cannot be over-exaggerated and whilst there can occasionally be exceptional reasons for the late of issue of a claim this will inevitably cause costly additional hearings with no guarantee of the Tribunal allowing a late claim.
So, our simple advice to you is to ensure that you seek legal advice at the earliest opportunity.
At Backhouse Solicitors we offer all potential clients a free 30 minute consultation with one of our expert employment lawyers. During this meeting we will take down some initial details of your matter and advise you on the legal issues and any potential claims that you may have. With this help, you can avoid ending up in the same situation as the unfortunate Ms DeSouza.
For advice and assistance, contact us today:
T: 01245 893400
E: info@backhouse-solicitors.co.uk
Or send us a message via the Contact Backhouse page
