The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that a tribunal was right to reject a claim where the claimant had not contacted Acas under the early conciliation procedure. While the claimant's reluctance to initiate the procedure was understandable, given that the claim involved allegations of sexual harassment, the claimant did not fall within any of the statutory exemptions.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has refused to allow a claim to proceed where it was submitted shortly before the time limit ran out, but rejected because of an incorrect early conciliation number being entered on the ET1. The claim was resubmitted, but outside the time limit.
The employment tribunal in this case took the unusual decision that the employer victimised the claimant when it allowed an Acas conciliation officer to forward her an email questioning her abilities and suggesting that she would never be promoted because of weaknesses in her literacy skills.