The WRC found a discrimination and harassment complaint against a county council was brought outside the time limit and was not well founded; the merits were not decided. Adjudication Officer Marie Flynn dated the decision 20 October 2022.
The complainant, a member of the traveller community, said the council had failed to arrange basic sanitary and other services while the family awaited permanent accommodation. The council argued the complaint was late and disputed whether it was the correct respondent. The officer found the county council was the correct respondent, and that a notification form submitted on 23 December 2016 was in time because it described treatment up to that date.
The complaint form reached the WRC on 16 August 2017, more than six months after the latest possible date of the alleged treatment. The officer declined to extend the deadline, finding that the complainant had not shown reasonable cause for the delay. The WRC therefore lacked jurisdiction to investigate the complaint.