Who hears the appeal?


The Acas Code says the appeal must be dealt with impartially by a manager who has not had prior involvement with the case. The Guidance says that wherever possible, that manager should be senior to the one who made the decision under appeal. 


Points to check include: 


• has the employee received all the necessary information about how the appeal process will be conducted, in good time;


• have draft minutes from the original hearing been produced in good time before the appeal hearing to enable the member to prepare properly;


• what information do the appeal panel need and what documents or evidence have they been given on which to base their decision? 


The dismissal date is not changed by lodging an appeal. 


Any tribunal claim must be launched within three months of the dismissal date, even if an appeal is still ongoing. Missing a tribunal deadline because you are waiting for the results of an appeal is not accepted by employment tribunals as a good reason for extending time to claim unfair dismissal (see, for example, Remploy Limited v Brain UKEAT/0465/10). 


The first step in any tribunal claim is now to submit an Acas Early Conciliation Form, available from the Acas website. In a claim for unfair or discriminatory dismissal, this step must be taken within three months of the dismissal date.