Ms K Traynor v Fiona Campbell T/A Division Hairdressing — 2022

A preliminary hearing was listed for 21 January 2022, but the Tribunal clerk made several attempts to contact the claimant without success, and there was no contact from the claimant in advance to explain her absence or seek a postponement. The Employment Judge also noted from the file that the claimant had not complied with the Tribunal order dated 27 July 2021, had not engaged with the respondent’s request to postpone the final hearing listed for December 2021, had not provided a completed date listing stencil for the re-listed final hearing, and had made no objection or comment on the respondent’s strike-out application.

In light of that lack of engagement, the Tribunal considered whether the claimant intended to pursue the claim. It noted that a final hearing was listed to start on 22 February 2022 and that it would not be consistent with the overriding objective to require the respondent to incur unnecessary cost preparing for that hearing if the claimant had decided to abandon the claim. On 21 January 2022 the Tribunal gave the claimant until 28 January 2022 to provide written reasons or request a hearing to explain why judgment should not be made.

The claimant did not provide an acceptable reason and did not request a hearing. The Tribunal therefore struck out the claim under rule 37 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013 on the ground that it had not been actively pursued within rule 37(1)(d). The final hearing listed to start on 22 February 2022 was discharged.