Mrs S Saunders v Bauer Consumer Media Ltd: 3312737/2020
JUDGMENT
Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013 – Rule 21 No response having been received to the claimant’s claim[1]The claimant has been the victim of unlawful discrimination on the grounds of sex and maternity as alleged in the claim form as submitted to the tribunal on 23/10/2020 A hearing to determine the remedy to which the claimants are entitled will be held at Cambridge Employment Tribunal on 29/04/2021 In order to assist the parties for that hearing I make the following case management orders[1]The claimant will file and serve a schedule setting out the financial losses which they claim in this case together with a copy of all supporting documents by 28 days from the date of this order[2]The claimant will file and serve a statement setting out the facts she wishes to tell the tribunal about together with details of the acts of discrimination which are in the claim form on which she relies in support of her claim for injury to feelings, and copies of statements of any other witnesses upon whose evidence she will rely in relation to the remedy she seeks. The claimants witness statement must include a statement of the amount of compensation or damages they are claiming together with an explanation of how it has been calculated within 42 days of this order.[3]The claimant will file and serve copies of any medical evidence on which she relies in relation to her claim for injury to feelings by 56 days. _____________________________ Employment Judge ORD Date: 15/2/21REASONS
(3) Based on the written submissions made on the part of the Respondent having listened to oral submissions from both the Claimant and the Respondent, I am not satisfied that the original claim form came to the attention of the Respondent. Case Number: 3312737/2020 (V) 2 of 2 (4) In any event, the Respondent has submitted a draft Response to the claim which demonstrates a potential defence to the Claimant’s complaints which has a reasonable prospect of success. (5) The Respondent says it was not aware of the proceedings until 1 March 2021 and the Judgment on the merits of the case (in default of a Response) was received by them. Promptly on 8 March 2021, the Respondent’s Solicitors made contact with the Tribunal to identify that they were not aware of the case and confirming that the Claimant had issued proceedings against the wrong Respondent, Bauer Consumer Media Limited. The Claimant’s employer was H Bauer Publishing Limited. (6) I am satisfied that the Respondent has a triable defence to the Claimant’s complaints and thus even if the papers had been validly received by them on issue, I would have been minded to set the Judgment aside on the basis that the Claimant would otherwise secure a ‘success’ and the balance of prejudice clearly lies in favour of allowing the case to be discerned on its merits. 13 May 2021