Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd v Clark [2023]

Background:

The claimants brought equal pay claims.  The claimants did apply to ACAS for an early conciliation certificate but on some of the claim forms it was omitted.  The rules of procedure required that the Tribunal staff should refer those claims to the Employment Judge but there was no automatic rule rendering the proceedings void.  Instead, the Tribunal could waive or vary the requirement.

At first instance, the Tribunal permitted all claims where there was an early conciliation (EC) number but rejected those where there was no number.  This was appealed to the EAT who stated it was not a mandatory requirement and allowed the appeal.  The respondent appealed