No Attendance For the v Staff Rite Recruitment Ltd — 2020

The claim was lodged on 8 December 2018 and had been case managed by Employment Judge Connolly on 19 June 2019, when it was set down for a six-day final hearing. By the time of the hearing before Employment Judge Self on 14 September 2020, no bundle had been created and no witness statements had been exchanged because the Claimant had not complied with the earlier order to exchange documents on 23 September 2019, although the Respondent had complied.

The matter had already been affected by the Covid-19 restrictions and by non-attendance issues. On 10 June 2020 the Claimant did not attend, saying he was unwell and suspected Covid-19, and the Respondent’s representative told the tribunal that the Respondent company had ceased trading and had applied to be struck off, although it remained a legal entity on Companies House. On 20 June 2020 the Claimant was warned that his claim might be struck out if he did not provide representations by 15 July 2020 explaining why it should not be struck out for non-compliance and/or lack of active pursuit, and a further warning letter was sent on 23 June 2020.

The tribunal found that the Claimant had shown he could communicate with the tribunal, including by later emails about his mental health and other personal issues, but he had not responded to the notice to show cause with representations addressing the document default. The tribunal did not find that he was not pursuing the claim, but did find that he had failed without good reason to provide his documents and had not explained that failure despite being given an opportunity to do so. It therefore struck out all claims under Rule 37(1)(c) of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013 and dismissed them.