PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Appearance/response
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Absence of party
The Respondent did not file a response to the Claimant’s claim before the Employment Tribunal. Judgment on liability was entered and the scheduled preliminary hearing was converted to a remedy hearing. The judgment and the new notice of hearing were sent out. The Respondent did not attend the hearing. The Claimant was awarded compensation by the Employment Tribunal at that hearing. The Respondent then sought to appeal the Employment Tribunal’s decision on remedy on that basis that the claim had not come to the attention of the director of Respondent. The ET1, judgment and correspondence from the Tribunal had however been sent to the Respondent’s correct address (and at least some of that correspondence had been received at that address prior to the remedy hearing). The appeal was stayed for the Respondent to make an application for reconsideration to the Employment Tribunal, however none was made. Written reasons for the decisions on liability and remedy were not requested from the Employment Tribunal. Nor did the Respondent file, either with the Employment Tribunal or with the Employment Appeal Tribunal, an ET3 form and draft grounds of response to the claim. The Respondent’s representative did not participate in preparing the bundle for the appeal hearing, which was prepared by the Claimant. The Respondent did not file a skeleton argument and did not attend the hearing of the appeal before the Employment Appeal Tribunal, nor did its representative attend on its behalf.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal dismissed the appeal, holding that the grounds of appeal advanced disclosed no error of law on the part of the Employment Tribunal in proceeding to reach its decision on remedy as it had done in these circumstances. The case was distinguishable from Office Equipment Systems Ltd v Hughes [2018] EWCA Civ 1842, [2019] ICR 201, where the Employment Tribunal had refused an application by the respondent to participate in determining remedy and had proceeded to determine remedy without a hearing. Here, there was hearing to determine remedy. The Respondent was sent notice of that hearing but did not attend. The Employment Tribunal proceeded to determine remedy in the Respondent’s absence, which was not itself an error of law.
Citations:
[2019] UKEAT 0135 – 19 – 2910
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 27 November 2022; Ref: scu.650898
