Mr M Kler v Quill Software — 2019

The case was listed for a preliminary hearing on 3 December 2019, which the claimant did not attend and at which he was not represented. The Employment Judge made an Unless Order requiring the claimant, by 17 December 2019, to explain in writing why he had failed to attend or communicate with the tribunal or the respondent in relation to the hearing, including why an email from the respondent's solicitors on 29 November 2019 had not alerted him to the hearing, and to provide documentary evidence supporting his explanation.

No compliant response was received by the deadline. The claimant sent emails on 18 and 20 December 2019 saying he had difficulty accessing email, that he had been at work in Crewe on the hearing date, and that he had lost track of the hearing date because of work travel and personal issues. He also enclosed an email he said he had sent on 4 December 2019.

The tribunal held that the 4 December email could not amount to compliance because it pre-dated the Unless Order being sent on 5 December 2019, and in any event did not address all of the matters required. The evidence that the claimant was at work and could not obtain paid leave did not show that he could not have left work to attend later in the day. More importantly, he did not address the lack of communication with the respondent's representative or explain why the 29 November 2019 email did not alert him to the preliminary hearing.

The Employment Judge concluded that the Unless Order had not been complied with and that the claims were dismissed under rule 47 of the 2013 Rules of Procedure. The claimant was told that, if he wished to pursue the matter further, he would need to apply promptly for relief from sanction with a witness statement addressing the non-compliance, particularly the communications issue.