Mr S Watson v Gravity Media UK Limited Heard: Reading (by video) — 2022

At the hearing on 14 March 2022, Mr Watson did not attend, did not contact the tribunal in advance, and did not answer the tribunal office when it tried to call him twice that morning. The tribunal noted that the last contact from him was an email sent on 2 November 2021, after which he said he had "nothing more to say on the subject". Gravity Media UK Limited’s solicitors had emailed him again on 15 November 2021, 22 December 2021, 1 March 2022 and 10 March 2022, but he did not reply or acknowledge those messages.

Employment Judge Hawksworth considered the matter under the overriding objective and concluded that there was no practical way to move the claim forward without the claimant’s attendance, because there was no opportunity to clarify what the claim was about or to understand the legal labels attached to it. The judge also considered whether a further hearing should be arranged, but decided that this would only cause delay and additional expense. In light of the claimant’s earlier statement and his non-attendance and silence, the tribunal concluded that he had decided not to continue with the claim.

The judgment therefore struck out the claim under rule 37(1)(d) of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2013 on the basis that it had not been actively pursued. The judge added that if Mr Watson wished to continue and had a good reason for not attending, he could ask the tribunal to reconsider the decision within 14 days of the judgment being sent to the parties.