ETZ 4(WR) EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No: 4101678/2017 Preliminary Hearing at Glasgow on October 2017 and February 20185 Employment Judge: M A Macleod (sitting alone) Ben Pierson v 15 Saltire Facilities Management Limited — 2018

A preliminary hearing was listed to determine the claimant’s employment status during his engagement with Saltire Facilities Management Limited. The hearing on 3 October 2017 was adjourned on the application of the claimant’s representative. A further two-day preliminary hearing was then fixed for 13 February 2018.

The claimant’s representative applied on 27 January 2018 to postpone the February hearing because she was instructed in another Glasgow Employment Tribunal hearing on the same dates. The application was opposed and, by email of 8 February 2018, the tribunal refused postponement. On 13 February 2018 the respondent attended, but neither the claimant nor his representative appeared. The tribunal noted there was no explanation beyond a brief conversation indicating that the representative would not be attending this case.

Applying Rule 47 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013, and taking account of the absence of the claimant and his representative without good reason being advanced, the tribunal dismissed the claim. The tribunal recorded that it was left to conclude that the representative had chosen between two hearings in which she was simultaneously instructed, and that the claimant and his representative had to accept the consequences of non-attendance. No substantive findings were made on the underlying unfair dismissal or unlawful deduction claims.