The Claimant contended that he was unfairly dismissed by the Respondent and started the ACAS conciliation process. ACAS contacted the Claimant to say that the Respondent did not wish to continue with conciliation, and emailed him a certificate to that effect, but the Claimant never received it. When the Claimant chased up the certificate, and finally received it, he submitted his claim on the next day, but that was three days after time had expired. The ET found that, in all the circumstances, it was not reasonably practicable for the Claimant to have presented his claim before the date when he received the certificate. The Respondent appealed.

The EAT held that the ET had erred in finding that it was not practicable for the claim to be brought until the Claimant had received the certificate; the correct question was whether it would have been reasonably practicable for the Claimant to have obtained the certificate earlier, in order to start the proceedings as required by the rules. Accordingly, the case would be remitted to the ET to consider, asking itself the right question.