Complaint of unfair dismissal ruled out of time
Sothinathan v British Telecommunications (1997)
Court: EAT (HH Judge J Hull QC, KM Hack JP and MT Prosser) 21/7/9Appearances: The appellant appeared in person.
Summary: Appeal against finding that appellant's complaint of unfair dismissal was out of time.
Appeal by female clerical officer against dismissal of her unfair dismissal claim by the London (North) Industrial Tribunal on 7 April 1997. She had been employed by the respondent since 1997 but became ill for more than a year at which time she was treated as if she was retiring, although in reality the probability was that she was being dismissed on the grounds of illness. She received her pay, a pension and a lump sum payment but had persistently demanded by telephone and letter that she should be reinstated. As her complaint of unfair dismissal was made outside the period of three months prescribed by s111 Employment Rights Act 1996, the industrial tribunal found it had no jurisdiction to adjudicate and dismissed the claim.
