Mrs T Phillips v Safe Base Care Limited — 2019

The tribunal heard the case listed for a seven-day hearing after a preliminary hearing on 2 November 2018. The claimant did not attend and was not represented. Her former solicitors had told the tribunal on 29 August 2019 that they were no longer instructed, and after enquiries by the tribunal clerk the claimant said she had not known her solicitors had ceased to act and had not known of the hearing. The tribunal found, from the correspondence and the timing of events, that she knew or should have known by the end of the previous week that she was unrepresented and that the hearing was imminent.

The respondent applied for dismissal under Rule 47, alternatively strike out under Rule 37, relying on the claimant's non-attendance and her failure to comply with case management orders requiring a witness statement by 26 August and an updated schedule of loss by 2 September. The tribunal noted that the claimant had not arranged to attend any part of the hearing and had not served the required witness statement or updated schedule of loss. It also noted that her earlier schedule of loss was from September 2018 and that her later employment meant the schedule needed updating.

The tribunal declined to strike out the claims under Rule 37 because the application had not been made in the way contemplated by that rule. It did, however, accede to the Rule 47 application, holding that the claimant's absence and the surrounding history of non-compliance justified dismissal. The substantive whistleblowing and unfair dismissal allegations were not determined on their merits, and the claimant was told she could apply for reconsideration within 14 days.