Mrs Louise Winsborough v CRG Homecare Ltd — 2020

At a preliminary hearing in Leeds on 27 August 2020, Employment Judge R S Drake, sitting alone and in private by telephone, struck out Mrs Winsborough's unfair dismissal claim under Rule 37(1) of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013. The judge recorded that the claimant did not attend, that the respondent was represented by Ms C Barnard, and that the claimant had previously been sent notice of the hearings and the respondent's strike-out application.

The reasons say the claimant had failed to respond to case management orders, including an order to provide a Schedule of Loss, and had not complied with directions requiring her to attend preliminary hearings. The tribunal noted that she had said she had no access to records of her travel time, but had been told she should do her best to complete the schedule from memory and could rely on oral evidence if she attended. She did not attend to confirm that position.

The judgment records the respondent's position that the underlying dispute was a simple claim about alleged failure to pay for travel time, and that travel time was taken into account in calculating the claimant's overall rate of pay so there had been no underpayment of wages and she had been paid above the National Minimum Wage. On that basis the judge found the claim had no reasonable prospect of success, had not been actively pursued, had been conducted unreasonably, and could not be fairly heard without evidence. The final line states that the claim was dismissed after the strike-out decision.