Employment Tribunal Time Limits & Early Conciliation

The time limit for unfair dismissal claims is usually 3 months less one day from the date your employment was terminated or any other event giving cause for you to make a claim, for example the last act of discrimination.

The time limit for constructive dismissal claims is the same as for unfair dismissal.

Before you can issue an employment tribunal claim however, it is a prerequisite that the claim is registered with the ACAS early conciliation scheme. The time limit for this is the same as the employment tribunal claim limit state above.

By doing this you are ‘stopping the clock’ on the employment tribunal claim time limit until you receive an ACAS certificate confirming you have gone through the early conciliation process. Once you have received your certificate the ‘clock starts ticking’ again on your employment tribunal claim time limit. You should take advice at this point as the time limit that will apply to your employment tribunal claim will vary depending on when your unfair dismissal claim or constructive dismissal claim was registered with ACAS and the date your employment was terminated.

If your dismissal claim or constructive dismissal claim is not registered with the ACAS early conciliation scheme within the employment tribunal claim limit the clock will not be stopped and you will have run out of time to make your claim.

The time limit for redundancy pay claims is 6 months where the employer fails to pay either statutory or contractual redundancy pay or if the employee disagrees with the amount.

A qualifying period of two years of continuous employment needs to be met before you can claim.

You have the right not be discriminated against under the Equality Act for reasons relating to age, gender reassignment, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. This also includes indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

The time limit for discrimination claims is 3 months, less one day, of the date of the last act of discrimination taking place.

Discrimination in some cases is an ongoing act. However, it is down to you as the employee to provide the evidence of ongoing discrimination. Examples of continuing acts of discrimination include:

• Where you have suffered racial harassment throughout your employment by several colleagues who continually make racist jokes. You may have complained on many occasions, but the situation is still continuing. You want to bring a discrimination claim against your employer. In this situation, you may be able to show that the discrimination is continuing in that all the incidents are linked to each other, including a failure to act by your employer. The employment tribunal would look at whether there is evidence of an ongoing situation by looking at whether the behaviour complained of is of a similar nature.
• The refusal by your employer to properly address or accept a complaint of discrimination via a grievance or appeal that you have lodged may constitute a continuing act. It is important that your employer’s conduct during this process is carefully scrutinised.

In circumstances such as these the time limit for bringing a claim will continue to run.

Before you can issue an employment tribunal claim however, it is a prerequisite that the claim is registered with the ACAS early conciliation scheme. The time limit for this is the same as the employment tribunal claim limit state above.

There is no 2 year qualifying period for discrimination claims.

An employee under the Equality Act has the right to equal pay for equal work.

The time limit for equal pay claims is 6 months from the termination of employment. There is also no qualifying period to be able to bring an equal pay claim to the tribunal claim.

An unlawful deduction is where an employer has failed to pay you or paid you less than you are entitled to. This includes holiday pay, bonus (see below), commision or pay due under statute.

The time limit for unlawful deductions claims is 3 months from the date of the last deduction and there is no qualifying period for bringing a claim.

Bonus claims

The time limit for bonus claims is generally 3 months less one day from the date you were due to be paid the bonus or you were informed it was not being paid.

For a bonus claim to be brought to the tribunal it has to be ascertained from your contract of employment by way of guarantee or reference to a specific formula. If the bonus is entirely discretionary then you cannot claim under an unlawful deduction claim and would need to be brought to the tribunal as a breach of contract claim.

If your breach of contract claim exceeds £25,000 you would need to make a claim in the County Court the High Court. There is a 6 year time limit to bring a claim through the courts.

The time limit for breach of contract claims is 3 months from the effective day of termination or the last day on which the employee worked, if the claim is brought to the tribunal. If the claim is made with the civil courts the time limit is 6 years from the cause of action accruing.

Before you can issue a claim however, it is a prerequisite that the claim is registered with the ACAS early conciliation scheme. The time limit for this is the same as the limit stated above.

There is no qualifying period for bringing this claim.

The early conciliation time limit is 3 months less one day from the act giving you reason to bring an employment tribunal claim. Examples of this are the day your employment was terminated or the day of the last act of discrimination. The early conciliation time limit if your claim relates to statutory redundancy pay or equal pay is 6 months less 1 day.

If you miss the early conciliation time limit any claim you wish to bring will be late. In many cases this will mean you will lose your right to claim.

If ACAS early conciliation does not lead to an agreement you will have a least 1 month after it ends to bring your claim to the employment tribunal. In certain circumstances you will have more than 1 month as starting the early conciliation process extends the time limit for making a claim.

To work out the new deadline for making your claim, the first thing you should do is work out your original deadline.

Then you need:

• the date on which you contacted ACAS to start early conciliation
• the date on which you received the early conciliation certificate

If your original claim deadline is more than 1 month away when you receive your early conciliation certificate, count the number of days from the day after you contacted ACAS up to and including the day you received your certificate. Then add this number to your original deadline, starting the day after this date.

For example:

• Original claim deadline: 3rd March
• Length of conciliation process: 11 days
• Certificate received on: 1st February
• New claim deadline: 14th March

If your original claim deadline has passed or is 1 month or less away when you receive your early conciliation certificate, you need to add 1 month to the date you received your early conciliation certificate. This will give you your new deadline.

For example:

• Original claim deadline: 6 October
• Certificate received on: 17 September
• New claim deadline: 17 October