Did not attend For the v Respondent — 2023

At the preliminary hearing on 26 January 2023, heard at London Central via CVP before Employment Judge Othen, the claimant did not attend and was not represented. The respondent was represented by Mr Cordrey of counsel. The tribunal dismissed the claim under Rule 47 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013.

In deciding whether dismissal was appropriate, the tribunal noted that notice of the hearing had been sent to the email address provided on the claim form, that no explanation for the claimant's absence had been provided, and that the tribunal had no telephone number for her. The claimant had attended a case management hearing by telephone on 13 October 2022, had received notice of that hearing at the same email address, and had been informed orally then of the preliminary hearing date; she had confirmed her availability. The tribunal also noted that the case management order and notice of preliminary hearing were emailed to her on 13 and 14 October 2022, that no correspondence had been received from her since the claim was filed, and that she had not responded to the respondent's emails.

The tribunal sent CVP joining details to the claimant on 25 January 2023 and sent further emails shortly before the hearing to both email addresses it had for her, but received no response. It waited until 11:00am before proceeding. In all the circumstances, the tribunal considered dismissal to be in accordance with the overriding objective and dismissed the claim.