No Attendance First to Sixth v Ms A. Cameron, Solicitor Seventh and Eighth Respondents: Mr N. Gillam, Solicitor — 2023

The claimant did not attend the preliminary hearing listed for 9 March 2023, and he also did not attend the hearing on 6 July 2023. The tribunal recorded that he had been warned in the notice of hearing dated 31 May 2023 that an order might be made if he again failed to attend. Earlier, on 9 March 2023, Employment Judge Bax had ordered an explanation for the non-attendance, and on 28 April 2023 Employment Judge Roper issued a strike out warning because no explanation had been provided.

The claimant emailed the tribunal on 5 May 2023 saying he had moved into a room in his mother’s house with his three children, and he referred to his disability discrimination claim as being based on stress, anxiety, and learning difficulties from childhood with dyslexia. The tribunal accepted that his address may have changed, but found that this was not material because communication with the tribunal had been by email and the notice for the hearing had been sent that way. There had been no communication from him after 5 May 2023.

The tribunal also noted that he had not responded to two emails from the clerk on the day of the hearing or to two phone calls, one with a voicemail message. It recorded the respondent’s position that he had refused occupational health in February 2022 and had not supplied sick notes since December 2022, and that he had not been communicating with the respondent although technically remaining employed. On that basis, the tribunal inferred that he was not actively pursuing the claims and struck them out.