EMPLOYMENT APPEALS TRIBUNAL
CLAIM(S) OF: CASE NO.
Sighle Flynn UD1524/2013
against
D. O'Sullivan Print Supplies T/A Print Solutions
under
UNFAIR DISMISSALS ACTS, 1977 TO 2007
I certify that the Tribunal
(Division of Tribunal)
Chairman: Ms. P. McGrath BL
Members: Mr. B. Kealy
Mr. C. Ryan
heard this claim in Dublin on 16th December 2014
Representation:
_______________
Claimant(s):
No legal or trade union representation
Respondent(s):
Mr. Peter McInnes, McInnes Dunne, Solicitors,
Lower Ground Floor, 78 Merrion Square, Dublin 2
The determination of the Tribunal was as follows:-
Determination:
The Tribunal has carefully considered the evidence it has heard in respect of a preliminary legal issue to be dealt with in these proceedings.
The claimant comes before the Employment Appeals Tribunal claiming she had been constructively dismissed as a direct consequence of her employer’s treatment of her within the workplace. The claimant had tendered her resignation on the 14th of October 2012 as a direct consequence of the bullying, harassment, intimidation and isolation she says she had experienced in the workplace up until her suspension out of the workplace without cause which said measure had been imposed on her in May of 2012.
The claimant’s notice period expired on the 12th of November 2012 and in order that the claimant could successfully bring proceedings under the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 – 1993 the claimant was obliged to give her written notice to the Employment Appeals Tribunal within the 6 month period beginning on the relevant date of dismissal- i.e. six months from the 12th of November 2012.
The Tribunal acknowledges therefore that, pursuant to the legislation, the claimant was obliged to have brought a claim before the Tribunal on or before the 11th of May 2013.
The claimant’s claim did not, in fact, reach the Tribunal until the 8th of October 2013- some four months after the time limit expired.
The claimant sought an extension for the issuing of these proceedings by a further 6 months which power lies within the hands of the Tribunal but only where the claimant can demonstrate – per section 7 of the 1993 Act amending Section 8 of the principal Act- that “exceptional circumstances” have prevented the giving of the said written notice in the six month time limit. In such circumstances the Tribunal can extend by a further 6 months.
The onus thus rested on the claimant to demonstrate exceptional circumstances had prevented her from bringing her claim within the time decreed under statute.
In making her case the claimant gave uncontradicted evidence to the effect that she was in a precarious state of mind in the immediate aftermath of her resignation and that the fear and worry of having to be in a form of litigation with her previous employer was such that she could not contemplate bringing unfair dismissal proceedings. The claimant conceded that she knew her entitlement to bring a claim was restricted in time and, knowing this, she had opted not to issue her claim.
The Tribunal accepts that, with the passage of time and the restoration of confidence, the claimant came to believe that she was strong enough to bring a claim but, in lodging her claim after the
6 month period, the claimant has not demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Tribunal that exceptional circumstances prevented her from making her claim within the 6 months.
Whilst the Tribunal may have every sympathy for the claimant who described a particularly difficult workplace scenario, her circumstances were not exceptional and the Tribunal must recognise that it is difficult for any potential litigant to summon up the strength and resources to start a process which, by its very nature, has a demanding effect on the litigant.
The claim under the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 to 2007, fails
Sealed with the Seal of the
Employment Appeals Tribunal
This ________________________
(Sgd.) ________________________
(CHAIRMAN)