Thread by @JasonBraier

1/ SoS Justice v Johnson: EAT holds that in considering whether just & equitable to extend time, it's relevant to take account of the lengthy delay of the trial post-presentation of the ET1 (here due to a stay pending a PI claim)

bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT…

#ukemplaw

2/ J was a prison officer unfortunate enough to attend the scene of a brutal murder, including mutilation & disembowelment. He suffered psychiatric injury as a result. He was compelled to complete an ill-health retirement assessment when he didn't want to medically retire.

3/ J brought an ET claim in 2013, stayed pending determination of his PH claim. That took some years but in 2020 his ET claim was finally heard & he won on 1 ground of harassment re the compulsion to complete the assessment.

4/ The compulsion had been on 20.2.13, whilst J's claim had been presented on 19.12.13. The ET had found time started to run re the compulsion in Sept 2013. The SoS asserted the ET erred in doing so without any findings of continuous conduct running to that date.

5/ The SoS also appealed against the ET holding the delay to be a few weeks at most, whereas it was around 7 months & that it also erred in considering the 6-7 years between bringing the ET claim & trial as irrelevant to whether it was just & equitable to extend time.

6/ The EAT noted relied on Morgan & Adedeji as providing the approach to time under the EqA, including the relevance of extending time to the bringing into the claim of historic acts. It also noted that ETs are discouraged from focusing on the Keeble factors.

7/ The EAT allowed the appeal on both grounds. The ET failed to make findings to show continuing conduct amounting to harassment after the initial compulsion. It also was wrong to discount as relevant to extension the periods outside of the length of delay in presenting the ET1.

8/ Hence on the extension ground, it was relevant for the ET to consider as a factor that the ET was being called now (due to the stay) to determine out of time allegations which occurred many years ago, irrespective of the fact that the ET1 wasn't many years delayed.