Mr A Buchanan v Respondent — 2019

This was a wages claim brought by Mr A Buchanan against Gallagher Scotland Limited. The hearing first listed for 14 August 2019 was discharged and relisted after both sides emailed the tribunal saying they could not attend. The judge noted that the case turned on a sharp factual dispute about the hourly rate agreed to be paid, so it could not be resolved without evidence from the parties.

The case was relisted for 7 November 2019 and the parties were told to provide any unavailable dates and that postponement would only be granted in wholly exceptional circumstances. No further communication was received before the hearing date. On the morning of 7 November the claimant emailed saying he could not get the day off work and asked for a further date. Neither party appeared at 10:00am, and the tribunal clerk contacted the respondent's office to check whether anyone would attend.

Applying Rule 47, the judge considered the available information about the non-attendance, the earlier postponement, the absence of any reply to the request for unavailable dates, and the Presidential Guidance on postponements. The judge held that the claimant's explanation did not amount to wholly exceptional circumstances and that it was not consistent with the overriding objective to postpone and relist the case again. The claim was therefore dismissed. The judge recorded that, had the claimant attended, his evidence on the agreed hourly rate might have been accepted in the absence of challenge, but the tribunal made no merits finding because the claim was not heard.