Miss S Farquhar v Jennifer Mary Mead — 2017

On 21 June 2012 the tribunal had entered a default judgment awarding the claimant £656.64 for unlawful deduction of wages under section 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, £164.16 for annual leave under regulation 30(1)(b) of the Working Time Regulations 1998, £309.19 for damages for breach of contract based on failure to give notice of termination, and £1,236.76 under section 38 of the Employment Act 2002. This later judgment was not a merits hearing on those claims; it concerned whether that default judgment should stand.

Employment Judge Shona MacLean treated an email chain from Ms Meade as an application to reconsider the default judgment and extended time for that application using the overriding objective. The judge recorded that the original claim papers were no longer available, but considered the email and Companies House material showing that Jen's Boat Bistro Limited had been incorporated on 8 November 2011, that Ms Meade had been appointed director on 21 November 2011, that the company went into voluntary liquidation on 20 May 2012, and that it was dissolved on 31 May 2013.

The judge accepted that the claim form had likely been sent to 72 Victoria Street, Rothesay, but found that the business had stopped trading there and that Ms Meade did not receive the claim form. The judgment records that, had she received it, she would have responded resisting the claims because she said the company, not she personally, employed the claimant and did not accept liability.

Because there was a dispute about who employed the claimant and whether any sums were due, and because Ms Meade had not received the claim form, the tribunal revoked the default judgment. The case was left to continue only if the claimant confirmed that she wished to pursue the claims; otherwise they would be dismissed or considered for strike-out if there was no response by 4 October 2017.