No attendance For the v Mr Singh — 2025

The claimant worked at the respondent’s Lindum House from 2022 to 2023, starting when she was 17 as a kitchen assistant. The tribunal recorded that, on occasions from autumn 2022 until May 2023, she worked shifts of more than eight hours, that she raised the issue of limits on working hours for under-18s, and that her duties were adjusted.

After employment ended, the claimant contacted ACAS on 15 April 2024 and the ACAS certificate issued on 19 April 2024, with the claim issued the same day. The respondent said the time limit for the complaints appeared to have expired in August 2023, or at the latest 1 January 2024. A preliminary hearing in November 2024 had directed a public preliminary hearing to decide the time limit issue, which would have involved consideration of whether it was reasonably practicable for the claims to have been presented in time.

The claimant did not attend the listed hearing, was not represented, did not respond to repeated attempts by the respondent’s solicitors to make contact or comply with orders, and did not respond when the tribunal clerk telephoned her on the day of hearing. The tribunal considered that there was no postponement application and that, in the absence of attendance or evidence, it was not in the interests of justice to proceed with the time limit issue. It therefore dismissed both complaints under Rule 47. The tribunal noted that if there was a very good reason for the claimant’s failure to comply and attend, she could apply for reconsideration.