No attendance For the v Mr J Davies - Counsel — 2018

At the preliminary hearing on 23 August 2018 at Watford, before Regional Employment Judge Byrne, the claimant did not attend and the respondent was represented by counsel. The tribunal refused the claimant’s application to postpone the hearing. It accepted that the claimant had emailed about needing to deal with holiday planning and risk assessments for vulnerable children, but said that explanation did not amount to good reason for postponement. The judge also noted the age of the case, which dated back to 2013, and said that, applying the overriding objective, the matter should proceed.

The tribunal also refused the claimant’s further application for a stay of proceedings. Judge Byrne held that the stay previously ordered on 3 August 2018 had been ineffective because the Supreme Court had already refused permission to appeal on 9 July 2018, and the claimant had therefore exhausted the domestic appeal process. The judge referred to the Supreme Court practice direction and to the Court of Appeal order of 19 February 2018 as confirming that there was no basis to reimpose the stay or order another one.

The claimant’s application to transfer the proceedings was rejected. The tribunal recorded the claimant’s concern that the Watford Tribunal was biased, but found no material before it to justify that concern. It also noted that Employment Judge Manley was not the Regional Employment Judge and could not influence the proceedings in the way suggested. The judge concluded that a transfer would cause avoidable delay and would achieve little geographically, given that the claimant, respondent and witnesses were London-based.

Finally, the tribunal rejected the claimant’s purported application to amend the claims and issues. After reviewing the correspondence file and the prior appeal history, Judge Byrne said no outstanding application to amend could be traced in the 2013 proceedings. The judgment referred to the Employment Appeal Tribunal hearing on 21 May 2015, the Court of Appeal hearing on 15 June 2017, and Lady Justice Arden’s order of 19 February 2018, and held that there was no basis on which to grant any amendment.