Mr Cezar Covataru v Thames Solar Electric Ltd — 2023

The claimant, Mr Cezar Covataru, brought claims on 7 July 2023 for unlawful deduction of wages in respect of decorating work and for unpaid holiday pay. The respondent defended the claim, including on the basis that the claimant had not been its employee or worker and that the work had been invoiced by and paid to Expansion Joints Ltd.

The tribunal made case-management orders requiring the claimant to provide a schedule explaining the sums claimed and how they were calculated, and to exchange supporting documents and witness statements. By email on 30 October 2023, the claimant said he had no intention of providing the respondent with any documents. He did not serve documents or a witness statement by the hearing.

At the remote hearing on 27 November 2023, the claimant attended but still had not provided documents or a witness statement. He also agreed that the decorating work had been invoiced by Expansion Joints Ltd, of which he was the sole director, and that the invoices were paid into a bank account in that company’s name. The tribunal allowed the respondent’s application to strike out the claim under rule 37(1)(c) for non-compliance with a tribunal order and/or under rule 37(1)(a) because the claim had no reasonable prospect of success.

The tribunal said the claimant had failed to provide supporting material or a witness statement, and that allowing oral evidence alone would have left the respondent having to take instructions and cross-examine without the ordered statement and bundle. In any event, because there was no dispute that the claimant’s company, rather than the claimant personally, had done the work, the claims for unpaid wages and holiday pay had no reasonable prospect of success.