A Glasgow furniture store boss sacked from his £100,000 a year job has been told he can't purse an employment tribunal claim because he was too late in making it.
Anthony Kerr says he was unfairly dismissed from his job with sofa giant DFS after working there for 13 years.
But now he's been told his claim cannot be heard by employment judges because he missed the deadline for lodging it by a month.
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A report published by the tribunal explained that Mr Kerr was devastated when he lost his job from immediate effect in February last year.
The former shop manager had suffered the loss of his father and ill health two years before his dismissal.
The ruling, published on the Scottish Courts website, explained that a solicitor advised Mr Kerr to follow the internal appeals process, which he did, but it was unsuccessful.
Just weeks later Mr Kerr's family was struck with another traumatic event and he spend several weeks at the bedside of his mother.
Mr Kerr landed a new job last April after he was recommended for the position.
And after being prompted by a friend, he decided to pursue a claim against DFS via the employment tribunal service on June 7.
However, the tribunal ruled Mr Kerr had missed the three month deadline for lodging his unfair dismissal claim, which ended on May 7, explaining his reasons for the delay failed to meet the legal test for the period to be extended.
The report pointed out: "It was the respondent’s position that whilst these circumstances were obviously such as to arouse sympathy and compassion, they did not unfortunately come close to meeting the legal test.
"It was clear that during this time, the claimant was able to submit an appeal and take part in the appeal hearing. He was able to consult with his solicitors on three occasions. The evidence was that the reason why he had to dispense with the solicitor’s services was that he could no longer afford a solicitor.
"The claimant had also obtained another job albeit I accepted his evidence that this did not involve an extensive recruitment process. The claimant’s own evidence was that he had been applying for other, better paying, jobs since."
When contacted for comment, a spokesman for DFS said: “In accordance with DFS company policy, we are not able to comment on legal proceedings relating to employee relation cases or to discuss personal or confidential information regarding current or former employees.”
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