Mr A Ibrahim v The Agile Rabbit Limited — 2023

At the further Preliminary Hearing on 17 February 2023, the Claimant did not attend. The Tribunal clerk attempted to call him several times and reached him, but he disconnected when told the call was from the Employment Tribunal. The Respondent did not know why he had not attended.

Employment Judge T Perry noted that a Preliminary Hearing had already taken place before EJ L Clarke on 20 December 2022, at which the Claimant had also failed to attend by CVP. The judge recorded that the hearing notice had been sent to the email address the Claimant had provided on his claim form, and that no witness statement had been filed despite one having been ordered. After considering Rule 47 and making all practicable enquiries into the non-attendance, the Tribunal decided it was in the interests of justice to dismiss the claims.

The judgment records that dismissal would in any event have followed because, in the Claimant's absence, he could not discharge the burden on him when seeking extensions of time to bring his claims. No merits findings were made on the underlying whistleblowing, race, religion or belief, sex discrimination, or unfair dismissal allegations.