Mrs D Hood v Respondent — 2022

On 7 January 2022 Employment Judge JM Wade reviewed the file after the respondent did not attend the preliminary hearing for judicial mediation. The tribunal made attempts to contact the respondent's representative, Mr Steel, and recorded that the claimant's representative had spoken to Ms Yates in HR, who first said Mr Steel was at work and later said he had long Covid or something similar. The reasons also note that the respondent had not complied with Order 12 of Employment Judge Shulman's orders of 10 September 2020, and that by 24 January 2022 there had still been no compliance with the orders and a further disclosure order, Order 13.

The tribunal accepted that something untoward may have happened to Mr Steel and that there had been some delay in sending out the orders, but it found there had still been no contact from the respondent and no explanation for its non-attendance or failure to seek a postponement. In all the circumstances, the tribunal held that the respondent acted unreasonably in failing to attend the judicial mediation preliminary hearing without first alerting the tribunal and the claimant. There was no opposition to a preparation time order, and the tribunal ordered the respondent to pay £123, being three hours at £41, on the basis that the sum was one the respondent's means could bear.