An unfair dismissal claim must be filed within three months from the effective date of termination. If you fail to do so then your claim will be out of time and the tribunal will not hear it. However under S.111(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, a tribunal has jurisdiction to hear an unfair dismissal claim presented out of time if the claim is presented within such further period as the tribunal considers reasonable and it was not reasonably practicable for the claim to be presented before the end of the normal three-month time limit. In this case the EAT held that it remained reasonably practicable for the employee to file their unfair dismissal claim within the usual time allowed even though their employer had mistakenly advised them that the time limit for claiming unfair dismissal ran from the date of the rejection of their appeal. This was because the employee's solicitor should have known the limitation date (which ran from the date of dismissal) and filed the claim in time. Marks & Spencer PLC v Williams-Ryan [2008] ICR 193 were correct. Unless an adviser is misled as to the correct limitation date by inaccurate information from the employer, the employee's only remedy is to claim damages in negligence from the adviser. UKEAT/0540/09/ZT
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