Mr Z Ali v Nicholas Buckley Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013: regulation 10A — 2023

The tribunal refused the claimant's application dated 27 July 2023 to revoke the Legal Officer's decision. The judge said there was no reasonable prospect of the original decision being revoked because the claimant had already withdrawn the entirety of the claim by email on 10 May 2023, stating: "I don't want to go ahead with this hearing. I would like to close the case permanently." That withdrawal was sent more than three months before the final hearing listed for 16 August 2023.

The judgment states that, under rule 51 of the Employment Tribunal Rules, the claim came to an end with immediate effect when the withdrawal email was sent. The respondent's response, received later on 24 May 2023, and further correspondence were said to have been unnecessary. The withdrawal was acknowledged on 8 June 2023 and the listed hearing was cancelled.

The tribunal also said that under rule 52 a subsequent dismissal judgment after withdrawal is mandatory unless the claimant had reserved the right to bring a further claim, which he had not, or unless issuing a judgment would not be in the interests of justice. The tribunal found no reason to conclude that issuing the dismissal judgment was not in the interests of justice, so the Legal Officer's decision was said to be clearly correct. The judgment notes that there had been an unfortunate delay before the dismissal judgment was issued, but that did not justify revocation.