Margaret Gallacher v T&C Bars Limited & Anor
[2024] EAT 15
Claudio Costagliola Di Fiore & Anor v Introhive UK Limited
7 November 2023
[2023] EAT 139
Employment Appeal Tribunal
Two employees lost their case at an employment tribunal and appealed too late. Even though they said there were good reasons for being late, the court didn't agree and threw out their appeal.
Key Facts
- •Claudio Costagliola di Fiore and Huma Qadri appealed the dismissal of their employment tribunal claims.
- •Their Notice of Appeal, initially filed on 17 December 2021, lacked essential ET1 and ET3 forms.
- •These forms were submitted on 18 March 2022, exceeding the 42-day appeal deadline.
- •Appellants argued the appeal period should start from the date of the written record of case management decisions (11 February 2022), not the judgment (8 November 2021).
- •Alternatively, they claimed exceptional circumstances warranted an extension of time.
Legal Principles
Time for instituting an appeal runs from the date the written judgment and reasons are promulgated.
EAT Rules 1993, rule 3(3)
Exceptional circumstances are required to extend the time for appealing, but exceptionality is not a test in itself.
United Arab Emirates v Abdelghafar [1995] ICR 65; Jurkowska v HLMAD Limited [2008] EWCA Civ 231
Mere accidental omission of documents, even essential ones, is not automatically exceptional circumstances for extending time.
Fincham v Alpha Grove Community Trust UKEATPA/0993/18; Hine v Talbot UKEATPA/1783/10
An Article 6 ECHR challenge regarding unfair tribunal proceedings does not automatically justify extending the appeal deadline.
Delcourt v Belgium (1979) 1 EHRR 355; Stubbings v UK [1996] 23 EHRR 213; Green v Mears [2018] EWCA Civ 751
Outcomes
Appeal dismissed.
The appeal was out of time, and no exceptional circumstances justified an extension.