In an unfair dismissal claim any question of requisite continuous service being satisfied must be considered after deciding on whether the claim is in time.

The respondent Mr Ryefell maintained that Mr Farr did not satisfy the 1 year requisite continuous service requirement in order to bring an unfair dismissal claim.

This would therefore inhibit Mr Farr from bringing his claim after he had won an argument in the EAT about whether his claim was subject to a 3 month extension to his claim whilst grievance procedures were satisfied under the (now defunct)Dispute Resolution procedures under (Regulations of 2004/Employment Act 2002).

The judge decided that the the regulations relating to time limits are free-standing. Only afterwards can the right of an employee to bring a case on the grounds of continuity of service be consdidered.