Claims submitted by fax

Case 3: The facts

In these two appeals, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) reconsidered the time at which a faxed appeal is deemed to have been submitted to the EAT. In each case the notice of appeal was faxed on the deadline day, 42 days after the tribunal judgment had been sent to the parties; the fax began transmission before 4pm but finished after 4pm and was ruled to be out of time.

Both appeals relied on the EAT decision in Midland Packaging v Clark (see Workplace Report, April 2005) that the time of receipt is the time when the fax begins transmitting.

The ruling

In accordance with the EAT Practice Direction, the EAT held that Midland Packaging had been wrongly decided: the notice of appeal and relevant documents (a copy of the claim form, the response form and the judgment being appealed) must all be received by 4pm on the deadline day.

Because the EAT was departing from its earlier decision, it granted an extension in these two cases so that the appeals could proceed.

Woodward v Abbey National (No 2) J P Garrett Electrical v Cotton UKEATPA/0534/05&0030/05 ([2005] IRLR 782