MR I SHEPHERD v Access Jobs Ltd Preliminary Hearing — 2019

At the preliminary hearing on 14 August 2019, the Claimant did not attend. He had written to the tribunal the day before saying that his 9 year old granddaughter had sustained serious injuries and remained in hospital, and he provided medical evidence in support of an adjournment request. The Respondent, represented by Mr W Lane, asked under r. 47 that the tribunal hear and dismiss the claim in the Claimant's absence.

Employment Judge Oliver Segal Q.C. read the witness statements and the key document identified for the hearing, an email dated 31 March 2017 containing headline offer terms. He concluded that there were critical issues of fact on the face of the ET1, ET3 and witness statements that could only be resolved by hearing oral evidence. He also noted that the Claimant had not served a witness statement in his own name, and stated that if the case proceeded later he would likely need to have done so in advance in order to be allowed to give evidence.

The judge adjourned the proceedings and relisted them for 25 and 26 November 2019. In doing so, he took into account the Claimant's position about his granddaughter, the existence of contested factual evidence, and uncertainty about the Respondent's legal status after it had been dissolved and removed from the Companies House register on 25 June 2019. He stated that the parties would need to address before the next hearing whether the Respondent continued to exist as a legal person, whether it was an insolvent company, and whether the Claimant needed leave of the High Court to continue proceedings against it. He indicated that, unless the Claimant was entitled in law to continue, the proceedings would likely be dismissed, although a further adjournment might be possible.