Ms Leah Drew v Hengist Restaurant Aylesford Limited — 2025

On 4 August 2025, sitting by video at Croydon, Employment Judge E Fowell struck out Ms Leah Drew's unfair dismissal complaint under rule 38(1)(a). The tribunal recorded that she did not have the necessary two years' service, that a strike-out warning letter had been sent on 25 June 2025, that she was given until 16 July 2025 to explain why the claim should not be struck out, and that no reply was received. The judgment states that the statutory exception to the two-year service requirement did not appear to apply and that the unfair dismissal claim therefore had no reasonable prospects of success.

The remaining claims were described as notice pay, holiday pay, arrears of pay and other payments. The tribunal noted that these heads had never been quantified or explained in detail, although the claim form said the claimant had not been paid one week's notice pay or her accumulated holiday pay. The respondents attended the hearing and provided supporting documentation, but the claimant did not attend.

The claimant later told the tribunal by telephone, and then by email, that she had had a family emergency and would not be attending. The tribunal found that no earlier email could be detected, there was no application for an adjournment, and there had been no response to the tribunal's letter asking whether the parties were ready for the hearing. Taking account of the limited nature of the remaining claims and the lack of engagement, the tribunal applied rule 47 and dismissed the remaining claims.