An honest mistake in submitting the necessary documents for an appeal is sufficient reason to obtain an extension of time, a court has found.
In X v Y & Ors, the claimant brought unsuccessful complaints of race and sex discrimination, harassment, victimisation and whistleblowing detriment to the employment tribunal. The claimant submitted a notice of appeal but failed to provide a number of documents required to institute the appeal properly.
By the time the claimant had sent the required documents, the registrar found the appeal was 25 days out of time.
In the Employment Appeal Tribunal, His Honour Judge James Taylor said: ‘We all make mistakes from time to time. No rational person who has gone to the trouble of drafting a Notice of Appeal will deliberately fail to submit documents that they know are required. The mistake will often be an oversight - forgetting to submit the documents. If you forget to do something it can be very difficult to explain why you forgot. That’s the point - you can’t remember. You may only be able to give your best guess as to why you made the mistake.
‘Where a claimant fails to submit a required document because of an honest and genuine mistake, this may support the granting of an extension of time.
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However he added: ‘While an honest mistake in submitting required documents may be understandable, it certainly is not the fault of the respondent, so any significant prejudice to the respondent is likely to weigh significantly against granting an extension.’
The judge said it was ‘appropriate and just to grant an extension of time’ which meant the claimant’s appeal was submitted in time and would now be considered at the sift stage – when the EAT reviews if an appeal has reasonable prospects of success before a full hearing is listed.
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