Mr G Madden v Waracle Limited — 2022

The case concerned a disability discrimination claim, with the claimant relying on Charcot Marie Tooth disease and depression and anxiety. At a case management hearing on 17 January 2022, the Tribunal ordered him to provide medical evidence, an impact statement, and details of the basis on which he said the respondents knew or ought to have known of his disability. When those matters were not provided, the Tribunal issued Unless Orders on 28 March 2022 requiring compliance by 18 April 2022.

The claimant sent some medical material, including a GP letter of 1 March 2022, and later said he had been in hospital for surgery and was heavily medicated. The Tribunal accepted that he had health problems and had been hospitalised, but found that the key elements required by the order were still missing: the impact statement and the explanation of the alleged employer knowledge. The respondents submitted that he had been given repeated opportunities to comply and had still not done so.

Applying Rule 38(2), the Tribunal considered the interests of justice and referred to Wentworth-Wood, Kier Highways, Thind, Enamejewa, Singh, Morgan and Polyclear. It found that the claimant had remained able to communicate during hospitalisation, that the unanswered matters were within his own knowledge, and that there was no explanation for why they had not been addressed. The application to set aside the automatic dismissal was refused and the claim remained dismissed.