Mulumba v Partners Group (UK) Ltd – How to Lose an Employment Tribunal Appeal Case in 60 Seconds (or at 11:49pm)
How to Lose an Employment Tribunal Appeal Case in 60 Seconds (or at 11:49pm) – Lessons Learnt from Mulumba v Partners Group (UK) Ltd [2026]
The claimant attempted to appeal two ET decisions.
- Her first appeal was lodged at 11:49pm on the final day. Anything filed after 4pm is treated as arriving the next day, meaning her appeal was automatically out of time and therefore invalid.
- Her second appeal fared no better. Although submitted on time, it was missing the ET judgment, written reasons, and pleadings. Those were only provided two days later, well beyond the deadline.
The Court of Appeal upheld the EAT’s refusal to extend time for both appeals.
Lessons for HR
If your internal practice is to “let an ET1 sit for a couple of weeks before forwarding it to legal,” this case is your prompt to rethink that workflow.
And don’t be the person emailing a claim to counsel at 3:55pm with: “Can we deal with this today?”
Procedural missteps are avoidable – but only if the right information gets to the right people at the right time.
