Mr Nazeem Shah, Solicitor of OH Parson LLP For v Respondent — 2022

At the costs hearing on 21 December 2021, Employment Judge P Britton, sitting alone, made a wasted costs order against the claimant's solicitors under Rule 80 of the Employment Tribunals Constitution and Rules of Procedure Regulations 2001. The order covered conduct in relation to the case after 9 March 2021, including the hearing itself.

The judge found that the claimant's solicitors had acted negligently and otherwise unreasonably in failing to disclose material documentation well before the hearing. The tribunal said that the late disclosure meant the hearing had to be adjourned, and that if the documents had been provided earlier to the respondent's solicitors, the wasted costs application might well not have been pursued.

The assessment of the wasted costs was reserved to a further hearing, and the question whether the claimant had acted unreasonably in pursuing the claim before its withdrawal was also left open. The judge noted only a preliminary view that, in light of documentation now before the tribunal and the earlier hearing before Employment Judge Housego on 4 March 2021, that issue might fall away.