Mr J Bernard v Respondent — 2021

The case was listed for a final hearing in Glasgow on 20 and 21 September 2021 before Employment Judge S MacLean. The claimant did not attend. The clerk telephoned him at the hearing and he said he had not received correspondence from the tribunal or the respondent and did not know about the final hearing, suggesting that messages may have gone into spam mail.

The tribunal noted the earlier case management history, including a preliminary hearing on 12 May 2020, a reminder sent on 24 October 2020, a postponed remote hearing in April 2021 after the claimant said he did not have facilities for a CVP hearing, and a telephone conference on 8 April 2021 at which he gave a change of address and asked for correspondence to be sent to his email address. The respondent said it had sent productions to the claimant's new address by registered post, signed for, and had emailed the tribunal and the claimant on 16 September 2021 about the hearing and the claimant's failure to provide documents.

The tribunal found that the claimant had requested email correspondence and that the same email address had been used throughout. It concluded that he knew, or at least ought to have known, about the final hearing and had no intention of attending. The claimant's claim was dismissed under rule 47 of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013. No remedy was awarded.