Mrs S Josipovic v Haberdasher’s Aske’s Temple Grove Free School — 2022

This hearing concerned case management rather than the substantive merits of the claimant's employment claims. The claimant had issued three claims, and the respondent applied for an extension of time to submit responses. The claimant opposed that application and sought default judgment in her favour in all three claims.

The Tribunal found that claims 1, 2 and 3 had all been properly served at the respondent's address for service. It accepted evidence that claims 2 and 3 were not in fact seen by the respondent at the time, including because the school was closed for part of April 2021 and office staff were working from home until July 2021, but held that the respondent did not receive the papers in a way that enabled an earlier response.

Applying rule 20 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013 and the factors identified in Kwik Save Stores Ltd v Swain and ors, the Tribunal considered the respondent's explanation for delay, the balance of prejudice, and the merits of the defence. It found that the pleadings across the three claims overlapped significantly, that the respondent had a potentially arguable defence, and that it was not objectively justified on the grounds of reason and justice to allow default judgment to proceed.

The respondent's application for an extension of time was therefore granted and the claimant's application for default judgment was dismissed. The Tribunal directed that the claims be consolidated and listed the matter for a case management preliminary hearing as soon as possible. It recorded that costs were not dealt with at this hearing and could be raised later if pursued.