Employment Appeal Tribunal
Appeal against refusal of an application for an extension of time in which to appeal against dismissal of appellant's claim for unfair dismissal on the ground of want of jurisdiction through appellant not having worked for at least eight hours a week. Two years elapsed before R v Secretary of State for Employment, ex parte Equal Opportunities Commission (1994) 1 All ER 910 [FN 1], summarised below, decided that the threshold condition for such claims was contrary to Community law. HELD: The principle that time did not start to run until UK legislation amended its state law to adopt Community law applied only to the commencement of proceedings – Emmott v Minister for Social Welfare and Attorney General (1991) IRLR 387 [FN 2]. It did not apply to the time limits for appealing decisions. The existing time limits for appeals did not violate or conflict with Community law. The decision which appellant sought to appeal had been made in conformity with UK law at the time. Appellant had not appealed within the time limit. The law was always subject to change and appellant had not raised any of the arguments in the Equal Opportunities Commission case at the hearing.
Appeal dismissed.
[1995] ICR 799
