The law states that if an employee wishes to make a claim for unfair dismissal they must to do so within 3 months’ of the effective date of termination of their employment. So if an employee was dismissed on the 7 January 2011 the employee must ensure that the claim form is presented (received) by the Employment Tribunal before midnight on the 6 April 2011.

The Tribunal has discretion to extend that time limit where it is satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for the unfair dismissal complaint to be presented within the 3 month time limit and that the claim form was presented within such further period as the Tribunal considers reasonable.

That means that if an employee misses the limitation period he must show that it wasn’t “reasonably practicable” to send the claim form, and that he took steps to send it as soon as possible thereafter.

In a recent case the employee successfully persuaded the Tribunal to extend the limitation period because she obtained informal advice from a friend (who was a solicitor) who advised her that she should go through the disciplinary appeal process first before lodging the claim form.

This decision will no doubt concern employers given the amount of employment law information that is freely available these days on the internet, Government websites from the Citizens Advice Bureau, ACAS and other organisations. Most employers would say that, with a little diligence, the employee could have discovered that there was a 3 month limitation period by making even limited enquiries.

It would seem that the Tribunal was persuaded that she didn’t need to make any further enquiries once she had taken “informal” advice from a lawyer over a cup of coffee.