The importance of Respondent identity when pursuing an Employment Tribunal claim

Proposed Employment Tribunal Claimants who are required to contact ACAS for Early Conciliation (EC) should take note that they must get the identity of the proposed Respondent employer right at EC stage.

In Giny –v- SNA Transport LimitedUKEAT/0317/16/RN the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) heard an appeal against the Employment Tribunal’s decision not to allow a claim to proceed against an employer where the Claimant had used the individual name of the proprietor of a business for EC purposes but then commenced a claim against his limited company. The EAT held that the Employment Judge had been entitled to conclude that the difference between the two names was not minor such that, under the Employment Tribunal Rules, it could overlook the discrepancy. In reaching that conclusion however, the tribunal did not accept that the difference between the names of an individual person and a legal person (a limited company) could never, as a matter of law, be a minor error.

Ross Strowger commented: “What this decision demonstrates is that, contrary to the government’s desire to reduce the role of lawyers in the Employment Tribunal system and to use EC to promote settlement between parties, proposed Claimants (and Respondent employers) would be well advised to speak to their lawyers when there is the possibility of a claim being brought”.