Mr Steven Reid v Respondent — 2021

The case was listed for a three-day final hearing by Cloud Video Platform on 7 to 9 April 2021. The tribunal recorded that the claimant confirmed on 5 February 2021 that he would attend, but thereafter did not respond to the tribunal’s emails about a CVP test or to repeated telephone attempts to contact him on the number given in the ET1.

On the morning of the hearing, the tribunal again emailed the claimant with the joining link, PIN and guidance for connecting, but he did not attend at 10am and made no contact. The tribunal adjourned first to 11am and then to 12 noon while further attempts were made to reach him by email and telephone. The respondent’s solicitor, Ms L McKenna, attended and explained that the claimant had emailed her over the weekend before the hearing about an agreed facts/timeline document and had emailed her again at about 7am on the hearing day asking for the CVP joining details.

The Employment Judge found that the claimant was fully aware that the hearing was due to begin at 10am on 7 April 2021 and had been provided with the login details. The judge noted that, despite being able to contact the respondent’s representative on the morning of the hearing, the claimant did not contact the tribunal to explain his absence or any difficulty logging in. Having considered the information available and made all practicable enquiries, the tribunal applied Rule 47 of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013 and dismissed the unfair dismissal claim for failure to attend and progress it.