Claimant v Respondent — 2021

In a reserved judgment dated 5 January 2025, the tribunal dealt with a strike-out application rather than the merits of the case. The claim, issued on 27 February 2021, concerned incidents between 1 October 2019 and 2 February 2021 said to amount to direct sex discrimination, sex-related harassment, sexual harassment and victimisation under the Equality Act 2010. The judgment records a lengthy case-management history, including orders about the list of issues, disclosure, witness statements, and a final hearing listed for 5 to 14 February 2024.

The claimant did not exchange her witness statement by the ordered deadline. At the strike-out hearing on 5 February 2024 she did not attend, but the tribunal considered her emails and medical material sent that day and later. It accepted that she had anxiety and depression, that the impact on her could be debilitating, and that her failure to comply with the order was caused by those health difficulties rather than deliberate non-compliance. The tribunal also accepted that revisiting the events in the case worsened her symptoms and made it difficult for her to complete tribunal tasks.

Applying rule 37 and the authorities it cited, the tribunal held that a fair hearing was not possible at the listed final hearing because the claimant had not provided a witness statement and the case turned on disputed factual evidence. It found that any relisted hearing would likely take place in the second half of 2025, by which time the events would be four to five years old, creating a significant risk of further delay and prejudice to the respondent and to S. The tribunal refused postponement and rejected an unless order as an alternative, then struck out the claim under rule 37(1)(c); it said that, had it been necessary, it would also have struck the claim out under rule 37(1)(e). No monetary award was made.