EAT (Practice and Procedure : Review – Review of an order for strike out following an unless order. The Claimant made claims of unfair dismissal and discrimination. At the start of a full hearing the Employment Tribunal asked for clarification of the case. The Respondent drafted a list of questions to be answered. The ET made an unless order, to the effect that the answers must be provided in 24 hours. Answers to some questions were provided, and some further information was provided a few minutes after the deadline. The ET decided that the answers were insufficient and that the order had not been complied with. The ET then sat, as a three person Tribunal, and refused a request for review of the strike out order which had been made in light of non-compliance. It refused review under rule 35(3).
The Claimant argued that the order should be reviewed and the case remitted for a full hearing.
Held: the case should be sent for a full hearing. The information supplied by the Claimant was sufficient to give notice of her case. The Respondent had been prepared for a full hearing and the questions raised by the ET had resulted in some confusion. The ET had not shown in their reasons that they had fully considered all submitted to them at the stage of review and had erred in law by not doing so. In all of the circumstances the EAT was in as good a position as the ET to consider the review. The interests of justice required the decision to strike out to be reviewed to enable the case to be determined on its facts.
Stacey Lady
[2014] UKEAT 0003 – 14 – 2207
Bailii
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 18 December 2021; Ref: scu.535551