United Kingdom Employment Appeal Tribunal

APPEARANCES

 

For the Appellant	MS P WALSH (Representative) Messrs L Bingham & Co Solicitors 4 Carmelite Street London EC4Y 0BN
For the Respondents	MR M KHAWAR (of Counsel) The Solicitor The Post Office Impact House 2 Edridge Road Croydon CR9 1PJ


 


MR JUSTICE MORISON (PRESIDENT): This is an appeal against a decision of an Industrial Tribunal held at Stratford on 21st October 1996 by which they unanimously concluded that the applicant's complaint of race discrimination was presented outside the time limits and that they did not have jurisdiction to consider it.

This was a complaint brought by her against her employers, the Post Office. Very properly and sensibly the Post Office had indicated that they would not wish to oppose the appeal which the applicant made against that decision.

It seems to us that the Post Office were entirely correct in their approach, because it is self-evident from the terms of the decision, that the Industrial Tribunal do not appear to have directed their minds to the relevant provisions of the Race Relations Act 1976, and in any event, it may be that they have not correctly dealt with the question as to whether the CRE dispatched the document to the Industrial Tribunal. For either or both of those grounds, it seems to us to be sufficient for us to say in the circumstances of this case, that we reverse the decision of the Industrial Tribunal and declare that the tribunal does have jurisdiction to consider the complaint of racial discrimination which was made in her IT1 dated 22nd August 1995 which so far as the Industrial Tribunal are concerned they received on 11th October 1995.