Gemma Jones v Vogue Future Living Ltd — 2021

Gemma Jones was employed by Vogue Future Living Ltd from 26 June 2019 to 28 October 2019. She did not attend the CVP hearing on 26 March 2021. The tribunal waited until 2:10 pm before starting, tried the telephone number given in the claim form, and recorded no contact from the claimant or any explanation for her absence. The respondent said the claimant had been on a zero-hours contract, that it had paid all submitted timesheets, and that she had simply ceased to be in contact with the business.

The unfair dismissal claim was dismissed for want of jurisdiction because the employment lasted only four months and the claimant had not met the two-year qualifying period. The tribunal recorded that no reason had been put forward to show how it could hear the claim, and that none of the exceptions to the qualifying period were relevant.

The claim for unpaid wages for the last four days' work was also dismissed. The tribunal found that the claimant had provided no information or documentation and had not particularised the claim in the ET1. It therefore treated the claim as having no reasonable prospect of success.

The tribunal added that, had it not already dismissed the claims, it would have struck them out under Rule 47 because the claimant did not attend, had not contacted the tribunal, and practicable enquiries had been made. It recorded that the claimant had not logged into the hearing before it ended and had not told the tribunal she was having difficulty logging in.