Mr M H Aidara v Delphi Technologies Ltd — 2022

Mr Aidara brought two claims: unfair dismissal and race discrimination arising out of his 2020 dismissal. An order for exchange of witness statements had been made on 8 July 2021. Mr Aidara did not serve a witness statement by the 9 December deadline or by the listed final hearing date. The three-day hearing listed from 12 January 2022 could not proceed as planned because the video technology did not work, although that was not his fault, and he joined by telephone for a short hearing.

At the 12 January 2022 hearing, the respondent applied to strike out the claims. The Tribunal rejected immediate strike out and instead made an Unless Order, explaining the importance of a witness statement and requiring it to set out the facts relied on for both the race discrimination and unfair dismissal claims. Mr Aidara agreed to provide a statement by 26 January 2022 and emailed one on 23 January 2022. The Tribunal found that the statement met the essential requirements for unfair dismissal, but it contained no evidence to support or explain the race discrimination claim.

The respondent wrote on 31 January 2022 pointing out the missing factual basis and gave a further opportunity to provide a compliant statement by 14 February 2022. Mr Aidara did not respond. The Tribunal held that, in light of the missing evidence and the claimant's failure to remedy the defect after it was drawn to his attention, the effect of the Unless Order was that the race discrimination claim was struck out and dismissed. The judgment records that the unfair dismissal claim remained listed for a final hearing on 19, 20 and 21 December 2022.