A care worker who was dismissed from a Belfast nursing home has been barred from pursuing his unfair dismissal claims after an industrial tribunal found it had been reasonably practicable for him to have lodged his case within the statutory deadline.

Vincent McCrudden, who worked as a care assistant at Fruithill Private Nursing Home in Belfast, was dismissed on 10 December 2024 following a period of employment with Brooklawn Ltd that began in April 2018. He lodged claims for ordinary unfair dismissal and dismissal by reason of a protected disclosure on 9 April 2025, two days after the extended deadline of 7 April 2025. The sole question before Employment Judge Sheils, sitting alone at Killymeal House in Belfast, was whether it had not been reasonably practicable for McCrudden to have filed within that limit, and whether the two-day delay was in any case reasonable.

McCrudden had undergone a hernia operation on 11 December 2024, the day after his dismissal. His wife, Carrie-Anne McAlonan-McCrudden, had been diagnosed with cancer in August 2024 and was undergoing chemotherapy up to and beyond December 2024. McCrudden described himself as her sole carer. She underwent surgery on 5 February 2025, was hospitalised until 13 February 2025, and spent much of the following week sleeping during her recovery at home. McCrudden said he was exhausted, overwhelmed, and anxious throughout this period, and that the matter of lodging his claim had slipped his mind as his focus shifted to his wife's survival.

The tribunal found, however, that McCrudden had access to professional advice at multiple points during the relevant period. He had engaged with the Labour Relations Agency through the Early Conciliation process, which concluded with the issue of a conciliation certificate on 7 March 2025. The tribunal found it unlikely that the LRA would not have made clear to him the importance of lodging his claims before 7 April 2025, noting that McCrudden himself accepted he knew at that point he had one month remaining. McCrudden had also contacted the Law Centre in January 2025, and a sister who worked as a litigation secretary at an employment law firm had asked him on 7 April 2025 whether he had filed, and then undertook to complete and submit the form on his behalf.

On the question of the period immediately after his wife's return from hospital, the tribunal accepted that anxiety about her condition made lodging the claim not reasonably practicable in those days. The tribunal rejected the respondent's characterisation of time spent away from caring duties during that window as representing sufficient opportunity for McCrudden to attend to his own affairs, finding that such a framing was inappropriate given the stress he was under. However, the tribunal concluded that by early March 2025, when the Early Conciliation certificate was issued, McCrudden was fully functioning and capable of managing his own affairs alongside his caring responsibilities.

The tribunal concluded that it had been reasonably practicable for McCrudden to have filed his claims during the period from 7 March to 7 April 2025, and that the two-day delay after the expiry of that period was not excused. The claims were therefore found to have been lodged out of time. Brooklawn Ltd was represented by Mr R Campbell BL, instructed by Dominique Devlin of Markle Law. McCrudden represented himself. The hearing took place on 18 February 2026 and the judgment was issued on 13 May 2026.