7th October 2021 The law commission recently agreed that the time limit for bringing tribunals should be extended to 6 months.

Extending the tribunal time limit from 3 months to (at least) 6 months has been our longest running campaign. Due to this ridiculous time limit, Joeli (founder of PTS) was unable to take legal action against her employer, unless she was prepared to risk the health of her unborn child. We launched a petition on this issue almost 6 years ago and 104 MPs also supported the campaign. The law commission more recently agreed that the time limit for bringing tribunals should be extended to 6 months. 

Only giving women 3 months to raise a tribunal claim in an already stressful time does not work, and research conducted by law firm, Gorvins found that 14% more women would have raised a tribunal claim if that time limit was extended. 

A recent consultation looking at sexual harassment in the workplace also raised the 3 month time limit issue and finally, FINALLY, Minster for women and equalities Liz Truss agreed that this could be a barrier to accessing justice and has agreed to look into extending the time limit. 

What’s more, the House of Commons Petitions Committee has just (on the 7th of October) repeated their call for the time limit to bring forward an employment tribunal to be increased, and has stated the that the “Government must urgently conclude its work to consider this change and clarify when and how it will be implemented”. Read their full report here.

By Taryn Robinson & Lauren Fabianski