Does a failure to attach the written reasons when lodging an appeal render it not properly instituted?
Not on the facts of this case, held the EAT in Elhallabi v Avis Budget UK Ltd.
The Claimant lost claims before the tribunal and requested written reasons within the time limit. He filed a notice of appeal with the correct supporting documents in time but was missing the written reasons as they had not been produced. As required by Rule 3 of the Employment Appeal Tribunal Rules 1993, he explained that he had not sent in the written reasons as they had not been prepared yet.
The tribunal sent out the written reasons 6 days after the appeal was filed; however, the Claimant did not see them in his email inbox. After some confusion in correspondence with the EAT staff, he only sent them in after the time limit to appeal had expired.
The EAT decided that the reference to filing an appeal within a "period" meant that if reasons were requested in time, technically an appeal filed before those reasons were sent out was premature. It decided however that the practice of the EAT was generally that such appeals were treated as properly started, where there was a genuine and satisfactory reason for not providing written reasons.
Thanks to Matthew Jackson of Albion Chambers for preparing this case summary.
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