Employment Tribunal Time Limits

Employment Tribunal Time Limits

To start a claim, a claimant must present their claim form (the ET1) to the tribunal within the relevant time limit which is within three months of the relevant ‘trigger event’ for example the EDT in an unfair dismissal claim or the discriminatory act in a discrimination claim.  However, there are some important exceptions, including a time limit of six months from the EDT for a statutory redundancy payment claim or an equal pay claim. It is important to note, however, that the Acas early conciliation procedure, which came into force on 6 May 2014, affects the time limit to submit the ET1 in the majority of employment tribunal proceedings.

Calculating the time limit

In order to calculate the usual time limit for a claim:

1. Identify the date of the relevant ‘trigger event’ (e.g. the EDT).

2. Go forward three months (for most claims; six months for certain claims) to the corresponding date in that month.

3. Where there is no corresponding date in that month, the last day of the month is taken.

4. Go back one day (unless there was no corresponding date in that month).

5. Add on the period of early conciliation.