Mr. Handley v Listers Group Limited — 2022

The claimant, Mr Handley, did not attend the hearing on 17 March 2022 at Leeds by CVP. The tribunal noted that it had received no correspondence from the claimant since the ET1, that the respondent had received no response to its correspondence, and that the clerk had telephoned the claimant and left a message without reply. The tribunal waited until 14.25 before starting the hearing and had no information before it about the reasons for the claimant's absence.

In those circumstances, Employment Judge Buckley decided that it was in the interests of justice to dismiss the claimant's claims. The judgment records that the claims for breach of contract and unlawful deductions from wages were dismissed. The respondent's counterclaim was not determined in this judgment; the tribunal noted that the claimant had not yet been given an opportunity to file a response and that the issue was dealt with in a separate case management order.