Mr A v A Kiani Secretary of State for the Home Office — 2019

These consolidated proceedings were presented in December 2009 and October 2010 and included claims for race discrimination, religion or belief discrimination, and unfair dismissal. The reasons also record a disability discrimination claim, which was withdrawn in January 2013. The case had at all relevant times fallen within the national security provisions of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure.

The judgment notes earlier litigation about whether those national security provisions denied the claimant a fair trial. That point was decided against him by the Employment Tribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, with the Court of Appeal giving judgment on 21 July 2015. The Supreme Court refused permission to appeal on 5 May 2016, after which the claimant's legal representatives ceased to act. The respondent then applied on 12 December 2016 for the proceedings to be struck out on the basis that they were not being actively pursued.

A case management hearing was held on 20 October 2017 before Employment Judge Hodgson, but the claimant did not attend. Further correspondence in November and December 2017, and again in August, September and October 2019, did not produce a substantive response. The claimant's email of 4 October 2019 said he had been waiting for justice since 2009 and left the matter to the judges.

On 29 October 2019, Employment Judge A M Snelson, sitting in chambers, struck out the proceedings under rule 37 of the 2013 Rules because they had not been actively pursued. The judgment records that strike out in discrimination cases should be used cautiously, but found that the repeated failure to engage, the likely inability to revive the case, the interests of the respondent individuals, the delay, and the public interest in saving resources made strike out proper and just.