Miss L Dunne v Tamarillo — 2021

Miss L Dunne brought claims for a redundancy payment, two weeks' statutory notice pay, and four days' holiday pay. The final hearing took place by CVP on 10 February 2021 at Manchester. The claimant did not attend and was not represented. The respondent attended through Mr T Normile, a partner of Tamarillo.

The tribunal attempted to contact the claimant by telephone, adjourned briefly, and left a voicemail asking her to attend or email if she was having difficulty joining. No response was received. Employment Judge McDonald considered Rule 47 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013, which permits dismissal or proceeding in a party's absence where a party fails to attend, after considering any available information about the absence.

Having read the papers and heard from Mr Normile, the tribunal decided it was appropriate to dismiss the claim rather than determine it on the documents alone. The judge said there was a genuine dispute about whether there had been a break in the claimant's employment around March 2020, which mattered to whether she had two years' continuous employment for a redundancy payment. There was also a genuine dispute about whether notice had been given, including a WhatsApp message on 21 June 2020 saying her employment would ultimately end in July 2020.

On holiday pay, the tribunal said there was no evidence before it about the claimant's entitlement or how much holiday she had already taken. The tribunal therefore dismissed all three claims under Rule 47 for non-attendance. The judgment records that the claimant could apply for reconsideration within 14 days of the judgment being sent to the parties.