Not in attendance, or represented For the v Mr J Munro, Solicitor — 2022

The claimant did not attend the hearing. After the hearing started, she was contacted by the tribunal and said she intended to attend; the tribunal adjourned briefly, but when she later requested that the matter be re-scheduled because she said she could not connect, that request was refused. The tribunal noted that she had been sent the same joining instructions as the respondent and had not complied with earlier orders of 15 February 2022 requiring her to provide an electronic schedule of the amounts claimed and the documents or evidence she relied on.

The tribunal recorded that the only document provided by the claimant was the ET1. Applying Rule 2 and the overriding objective, the Employment Judge decided it was not in the interests of justice to delay the hearing further, including because the respondent had provided a persuasive defence and the claimant had provided no response. The hearing therefore proceeded in the claimant's absence at 2.40 pm.

The judgment then disposed of the claimant's claims for arrears of notice pay, holiday pay, and 'other payments' by dismissal. The reasons given were procedural rather than substantive: the burden of proof was on the claimant, she was absent, and she had not provided the ordered documents or evidence in support of her claims.