The Claimant was dismissed by the Respondent for gross misconduct following a disciplinary hearing, the dismissal being effective from 15 March 2017. He contacted ACAS within a few days of his dismissal and was advised by the ACAS advisor that prior to considering any other form of action including tribunal proceedings that he should first exhaust an internal appeal process. No reference was made to obtaining an early conciliation certificate or bringing a tribunal claim within a statutory 3 month period. He did appeal, the appeal hearing taking place on 22 June 2017, on which date the Claimant was told that his appeal had not been successful. Shortly after that date, the Claimant took advice and commenced proceedings by lodging an ET1 on 19 July 2017. It was out of time. The ET extended time, saying that had it been the case that the Claimant was simply awaiting the outcome of the appeal prior to bringing the claim they would have no hesitation in concluding that the claim should have been brought within the 3 month statutory time period. However, in this case he had received erroneous advice from the ACAS officer and it was not reasonably practicable for the Claimant to have brought the claim within the 3 month statutory time period. The Respondent appealed.

The EAT dismissed the appeal. The ET was entitled to find, on the evidence before it, that it had not been reasonably practicable for a Claimant to have served proceedings within the relevant time limit, and that he had done so within a reasonable period after learning of the time limits.