Mr M I Ashraf v Emcor UK — 2024

The Claimant brought an unfair dismissal claim after being dismissed on grounds of redundancy. The Respondent applied to strike out the claim, relying on alleged non-compliance with Tribunal orders and asserting that the claim was not being actively pursued.

The Tribunal was not satisfied that the Claimant had received sufficient notice that strike out was being considered, because the strike-out warning and later correspondence were sent to an email address the Claimant said had been hacked. The Tribunal also found that the later Notice of Hearing did not contain mandatory orders of the kind relied on by the Respondent, and that the earlier case management orders related to the postponed August 2023 hearing.

The Tribunal accepted that the Respondent had made several attempts to contact the Claimant from 26 March 2024 onward, but considered this was a relatively short period and that the Claimant's eviction, emergency accommodation, changed email address, and new-role training made it difficult to assess whether any non-compliance or delay was intentional. It concluded that a fair hearing remained possible if the final hearing were postponed and clear case management orders were issued, and refused the strike-out application.