EMPLOYMENT APPEALS TRIBUNAL
CLAIM OF: CASE NO.
Brenda Elizabeth Duffin – claimant UD924/2014
against
St. James’s Hospital - respondent
under
UNFAIR DISMISSALS ACTS, 1977 TO 2007
I certify that the Tribunal
(Division of Tribunal)
Chairman: Ms Niamh O’Carroll-Kelly BL
Members: Mr N. Ormond
Mr J. Dorney
heard this appeal at Dublin on 28th July 2015
Representation
Claimant: In person
Respondent: Mr Brendan Kirwan BL instructed by A & L Goodbody Solicitors,
IFSC, North Wall Quay, Dublin 1
The determination of the Tribunal is as follows:-
The fact of dismissal was not in dispute.
Preliminary Issue
The respondent’s representative submitted that the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear the claim because it was made outside the statutory time period. The claimant replied that she had consulted her solicitor shortly after she was dismissed and left the matter in his hands.
Determination
The claimant was dismissed from her employment in June 2013. She employed her solicitors as early as August 2012. They represented her at disciplinary meetings and wrote comprehensive letters on her behalf.
Her workplace relations form was filed in May 2014 almost one year post dismissal. The T2 was filed in August 2014 and the claimant was served with a copy of that document on the 14th August 2014. At paragraph 1 of that document it states “The claimant was out of time when she filed her claim”. Therefore the Tribunal find she was on notice of the preliminary issue from that date.
Section 7 (a) (2) of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1993 reads,
‘A claim for redress under this Act shall be initiated by giving a notice in writing (containing particulars (if any) as may be specified in regulations under Section 17 of this Act made for the purposes of Subsection (8) of this Section) to a Rights Commissioner or the Tribunal, as the case may be –
(a) Within the period of 6 months beginning on the date of dismissal, or
(b) If the Rights Commissioner or the Tribunal, as the case may be, is satisfied that exceptional circumstances prevented the giving of the notice within the period aforesaid, then, within such period not exceeding 12 months from the date aforesaid as the Rights Commissioner or the Tribunal, as the case may be, considers reasonable.’
In the case of Byrne v Quigley (U762/1994), the Tribunal stated “Exceptional” means something out of the ordinary. At the least the circumstances must be unusual, probably quite unusual, but not necessarily highly unusual.
The claimant’s solicitors were not present at the hearing, having been discharged on the morning of the hearing and therefore could not explain the circumstances in relation to the delay. That was unfortunate.
The Tribunal can find no circumstances that existed at the material time that prevented the claimant from filing her claim within time. Unfortunately, therefore the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to hear this claim.
Sealed with the Seal of the
Employment Appeals Tribunal
This ________________________
(Sgd.) ________________________
(CHAIRMAN)