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05 July 2024 / Ffyon Reilly
Issue: 8078 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Employment , Tribunals
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Extending time: from misery to forgiveness?

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Ffyon Reilly looks at recent case law on judicial discretion as to minor errors
  • Discusses the judicial discretion offered by r 37(5) as to ‘minor error’, referring to Melki v Bouygues E and S Contracting UK and Jasim v LHR Airports.
  • Changes to r 37 apply to pending as well as future proceedings.
  • Addresses question of when two employment tribunal claims are consolidated and when they are tried together.

‘The denizens of the Employment Appeal Tribunal seem to me to be a hard-hearted lot… and mercy flows thinly in the lifeblood of the rules,’ remarked the Court of Appeal in Woods v Suffolk Mental Health NHS Trust [2007] EWCA Civ 1180. This observation refers to r 37, which requires an appeal to the EAT to be instituted within 42 days of the sending out of the tribunal’s reasons. United Arab Emirates v Abdelghafar & Anor [1995] IRLR 243, [1995] ICR 65 confirmed this rule, laying out the test for granting an extension:

a. What is the explanation

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
The winners of the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2026 have now been announced, marking another outstanding celebration of excellence, innovation, and impact across the legal profession
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
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