One of the most common reasons a genuine employment claim never gets heard on its merits is that it was brought too late. Employment tribunal time limits are short and strictly applied, so it is worth understanding how they work before you need to rely on them.
The general rule: three months less one day
For most employment tribunal claims, including unfair dismissal, discrimination, and unlawful deductions from wages, the time limit is three months less one day from the relevant date. For dismissal, that date is normally the effective date of termination of your employment. For an act of discrimination, it runs from the date of the act complained of.
The “less one day” wording trips people up. If your employment ended on 1 April, the deadline is not 1 July, it is 30 June. Tribunals apply this precisely, and being even a day late can mean a claim is rejected as out of time.
Continuing acts
Where discrimination or another form of unlawful treatment happens over a period rather than as a single incident, the time limit can run from the last act in that sequence, provided the incidents form part of a genuine continuing state of affairs rather than a series of unconnected one-off events. Whether a pattern of treatment qualifies as a continuing act is a question of fact, so this is an area where early advice is particularly useful.
ACAS early conciliation
Before you can lodge most tribunal claims, you are required to contact ACAS and go through early conciliation. You notify ACAS, and an ACAS conciliator will contact your employer to see whether the dispute can be resolved without a tribunal claim. You are not obliged to reach an agreement, and if conciliation does not resolve things, ACAS issues a certificate that allows you to proceed to a claim.
Early conciliation affects the time limit calculation. The normal three-months-less-one-day clock pauses while conciliation is ongoing, for up to six weeks, and then resumes. In practice, this means the actual deadline for lodging your claim is often later than three months from the original date, but the calculation depends on exactly when you contacted ACAS and when the certificate was issued. It is not simply three months plus six weeks, so it is important to check the actual dates on your certificate rather than estimate.
What happens if you miss the deadline
Tribunals have a limited discretion to allow a late claim in some circumstances, but the tests are strict and success is far from guaranteed. For unfair dismissal, a tribunal must be satisfied it was not reasonably practicable to bring the claim in time. For discrimination claims, the tribunal has a wider “just and equitable” discretion, but this is still applied narrowly in practice. Neither is a safety net to rely on, and claims are refused on time-limit grounds regularly.
Practical takeaway
If you think you may have an employment claim, treat the time limit as the first thing to check, not an afterthought. Note down the date your employment ended or the date of the act you are complaining about, and get advice as early as you can. Getting advice early does not commit you to bringing a claim, but it protects your position while you decide what to do.
This article explains the general position under the law as it currently stands and is not advice on your individual circumstances.