ACAS Ealy Conciliation

[gnarl]

Hi Guys

I'm after a quick bit of advice regarding time scales for ET application after going through early conciliation.

An incident happened at working on the 10th August 2016 for which I raised a grievance then appealed the grievance. I had the results of the appeal on 7th November 2016 for which I still do not agree. On the 8th of November I then submitted a request to ACAS for early concilliation which I'm told put a hold on the time given to apply for employment tribunal, which I believe is 3 months minus 1 day of the incident.

Now as far as I understand ACAS will not try and resolve this with my employer but if they fail they will issue me with a certificate which will enable me then to apply for employment tribunal and the clock starts again.

Does this then mean I've only got 2 days after ACAS issue the ceritificate to apply for employment tribunal?

Hope the above makes sense.

Gnarl

[ULA]

Re: ACAS Ealy Conciliation

Hi gnarl and welcome to the forum. As you rightly state the timescale for making an Employment Tribunal (ET) claim is 3 months minus 1 day or for redundancy, pay and equal pay cases, the time limit is six months minus one day. If early reconciliation applies to your case the process can last up to one calendar month starting on the date on which you notify ACAS of your potential claim. This one-month period can be extended by up to 14 days if, towards the end of the month, ACAS thinks that there is a reasonable prospect of settling the case within those extra 14 days. You can also ask for an extension if you feel it would be beneficial to do so.

If you can’t settle all parts of your dispute, ACAS must issue an early conciliation certificate. This can be:

• at any point during the early conciliation period, or
• at the end of the one-month conciliation period, or
• at the end of the extended one-month-and-14-day period

It will depend on how the early reconciliation certificate is sent to you as to when it is deemed you have received it, so if it is send by email it will be that day and if it is sent by post you will be treated as having received it on the second working day after it was sent. A working day does not include Sundays and public holidays.
Early conciliation extends the time you have to make your claim. This is because while you are taking part in early conciliation, the clock stops. If negotiations fail, the clock starts running again from the date you are deemed to have received your early conciliation certificate. Time is added to the original time limit for making a claim to make up for the pause during the early conciliation period.


However, you will not know the exact new time limit until conciliation has ended and you have received your early conciliation certificate.