Dr Ma Elena Hernandez-Hernandez v Imperial College Of Science, Technology And Medicine and 2 others — 2024

The tribunal addressed the status of several complaints in light of a deposit order made on 16 February 2023, which required the claimant to pay £2,500 in total, allocated across complaints 1(a)-(g) at sums of £250 or £500 per complaint. The claimant made a single payment of £500 on 31 March 2023. In subsequent emails dated 3 April 2023 and 5 April 2023, there was confusion regarding which respondent and which complaints the payment was intended to cover, in part because the claimant appeared to have been mistaken about the identities of the first and second respondents.

The tribunal accepted, on the basis of the email of 5 April 2023 and the parties' agreed understanding, that the deposit payment was in respect of complaints 1(b) and 1(d). Counsel for the respondents confirmed this was also the respondents' understanding. No deposit had been paid in respect of the remaining complaints subject to the deposit order.

On the basis of the parties' submissions and the documentary evidence, the tribunal struck out complaints 1(a), 1(c), 1(e), 1(f) and 1(g) under rule 39(4) of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013 due to non-payment of the relevant deposits. No remedy was awarded by this judgment, which addresses only the strike-out of these specified complaints.