Ms E Bojula v UK Cleaning Contracts Limited — 2024

The claimant brought a claim for unauthorised deductions from wages. A final hearing was listed for 10 January 2024 in Edinburgh by CVP. When the hearing began at 11:20, the claimant had not attended or been represented. The tribunal clerk had tried to telephone her, but her phone went to answerphone, and there had been no response by call, text or otherwise. The respondent asked for dismissal under Rule 47 of the Employment Tribunal Rules 2013.

The tribunal noted that the claimant had been ordered on 13 November 2023 to provide a written statement with information and supporting documents about the remedy sought, with a deadline of 27 November 2023. The tribunal found, from the digital case file, that she had not complied with that order and had not responded to reminders sent on 30 November and 20 December 2023. Taking the relevant circumstances into account, the tribunal concluded that it did not appear the claimant wished to actively pursue the complaint, or alternatively that she had unreasonably failed to do so, and it orally dismissed the claim.

The claimant later joined at 11:30 and said she had had difficulty connecting and had used a helpline. The tribunal explained that it had already dismissed the claim in her absence and that the dismissal meant the claim was at an end and would not be decided at a final hearing. She said she wanted to "leave it like that". No application to reconsider was made, so the dismissal stood.