Mr T Jeurninck & Mr M Scatena v Piatto (London) Ltd — 2020

This was a remote open preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Tsamados, sitting alone, in the joined claims of Mr T Jeurninck and Mr M Scatena against Piatto (London) Ltd. The hearing had been listed to determine the claimants' employment status for the purposes of complaints of sexual orientation discrimination and unauthorised deductions from wages. Neither side attended. The tribunal recorded that the parties had been told the hearing would proceed by CVP and how to join, and that the claimants had emailed shortly before the hearing saying they would not attend because they had not received documents or a bundle from the respondent.

Applying rule 47 of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013, and also considering the tribunal's general powers under rules 29 and 41, the judge decided that it was not practicable to make further enquiries and that it would not be just to adjourn. The reasons given were that the parties had ample notice, the claimants could have sought advice, prepared witness statements and attended to explain their position even without the respondent's cooperation, and the claimants had not raised the difficulty earlier.

Because the claimants did not attend, the tribunal said it was not possible to determine the employment status issue, and without at least their attendance it could not decide the matter. The judge therefore dismissed the claims.