Claimant v Pavel v Alive Digital Ltd — 2022

The claimant presented claims for unfair dismissal, unlawful deductions from wages, and breach of contract for failure to pay notice pay. Her ET1 stated employment dates of 18 December 2019 to 16 August 2021. The respondent disputed that she was an employee and said she had held the office of director, but the tribunal found it unnecessary to resolve that point because, in any event, she had been at the respondent in some capacity throughout that period.

On the unfair dismissal claim, the tribunal applied section 108 ERA 1996 and found that the claimant did not have the required two years' continuous employment ending with the effective date of termination. The ET1 did not refer to any of the exceptions in section 108(2) or 108(3), and the claimant did not provide written reasons after the strike-out warning. The tribunal therefore held that the unfair dismissal claim had no reasonable prospect of success and struck it out under rule 37.

The unlawful deductions from wages and breach of contract claims were listed for a CVP hearing on 30 and 31 January 2023. The notice of hearing and the log-in details were sent to the correct contact details, but neither party attended when the hearing opened. The tribunal kept the hearing open, emailed the claimant on the morning of the hearing, and received no response by 3.00 pm. Applying Rule 47, and treating the claimant's absence as unexplained, the tribunal dismissed those two claims.