Mr I Ghezali v Respondent — 2019

Mr I Ghezali brought a claim for unfair dismissal against Cup Glasgow Limited. The hearing was held in Glasgow on 29 July 2019 before Employment Judge M Whitcombe. The respondent attended through Mr P Reynolds, Managing Director. The claimant did not attend and no application for postponement was on the file at the time the tribunal dealt with the case.

At 10.00 the clerk attempted to contact the claimant using the details on file, but the mobile number went to voicemail and the landline was not answered. By 10.35 the claimant had still not arrived, returned the call, or sent any message to explain his absence. The judge checked the file, found nothing that cast light on the absence, and dismissed the claim. The judgment records that the dismissal was under rule 47 of the ET Rules of Procedure 2013.

The judge later became aware of an email sent by the claimant at 23:49 on 28 July 2019, the night before the hearing. The email had not been copied to the respondent as required by rule 92 and had not been seen before the hearing. In that email the claimant said his son had broken a leg while on holiday in Algeria and said he had forgotten about the hearing. The judge inferred that he had made travel plans inconsistent with attending the hearing, but stated that the dismissal decision had already been made on the material available at the time. The judgment notes that if the claimant considered the email to be a reason not to dismiss, he could apply for reconsideration.