Mr K Hall-Hussain v Wickes Building Supplies Limited — 2024

In the judgment of 6 November 2024, Mr K Hall-Hussain's employment with Wickes Building Supplies Limited at its Oxford depot was recorded as running from 1 November 2022 to 26 June 2023, when he was dismissed with pay in lieu of notice. After ACAS early conciliation, he presented claims on 10 July 2023 including unfair dismissal, redundancy payment, unpaid wages and holiday pay, and race and religion or belief discrimination.

At a case management hearing on 9 February 2024, the claimant attended in person and withdrew his unfair dismissal, redundancy payment and unpaid wages complaints; those were dismissed on withdrawal. Revised case management orders were then made and a final hearing was listed. The respondent later reported repeated difficulty in securing the claimant's compliance with the orders and asked that the final hearing be vacated and replaced by a preliminary hearing on strike-out.

The claimant did not attend the relisted strike-out hearing. The tribunal contacted him by telephone; he said he was unaware of the hearing because he was locked out of his email account and wanted to withdraw the claim, but he had not sent written notice. The tribunal also noted repeated unsuccessful attempts by the respondent and ACAS to contact him and accepted that the respondent had made reasonable efforts to engage with him.

The tribunal found that the claimant had failed to comply with the case management orders, that the claim had not been actively pursued, and that it was proportionate and in the interests of justice to strike it out under Rule 37(1)(d) of the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure 2013. It also found that a fair trial of the issues within a reasonable period was unlikely. No merits findings or monetary award were made on the remaining claims.