Eligibility Checklist for Bringing an Employment Tribunal Claim
Check whether your claim is in time, meets the qualifying service requirements, and has complied with pre-claim requirements.
Overview
Employment tribunals have jurisdiction to hear claims about employment rights. Eligibility is a threshold question that depends on the type of claim. Some claims require a qualifying period of continuous employment; others apply from day one. All claimants must contact ACAS for early conciliation before issuing a claim (s.18A Employment Tribunals Act 1996). Time limits are strictly enforced — the tribunal has very limited discretion to extend them.
Employment Status
You are an employee, worker, or self-employed contractor in the correct employment status category for your claim type(Essential)
Unfair dismissal requires 'employee' status; discrimination applies to employees and workers; some claims extend to the genuinely self-employed
You have 2 years' continuous employment for unfair dismissal (ERA 1996, s.108)
No qualifying period for: automatically unfair dismissal (whistleblowing, pregnancy, asserting statutory rights, health and safety), discrimination, unlawful deductions, national minimum wage
Time Limits
Your claim is within 3 months less one day of the act complained of (standard limit for most claims)(Essential)
The clock stops while ACAS early conciliation runs; your certificate will show the extended deadline
For redundancy pay: 6 months from the date of dismissal
For equal pay: 6 years (ordinary claim) or 6 months from end of employment (employment tribunal)
Pre-Claim Requirements
You have notified ACAS for early conciliation and have an EC certificate(Essential)
The ET1 form will not be accepted without a valid ACAS certificate number
There is no valid settlement agreement or COT3 settling the claim you are bringing(Essential)