Ms S Mulvihill v Community Foods Ltd: 3335219/2018
JUDGMENT
The claims are dismissed.REASONS
[1]The claimant did not attend the preliminary hearing of 2 August 2019, about which the parties had known since receiving the notice of that hearing, which was dated 2 January 2019. The claimant gave in an email to the tribunal sent at 12:29 on 2 August 2019 as her reason for not attending that she could not find a legal representative to represent her. That was in the circumstance that she had originally been represented by solicitors (Slater and Gordon), but that they had written to the tribunal on 21 June 2019 that they were no longer instructed by the claimant and would no longer be representing her.[2]The absence of legal representation is not a good reason for not attending a hearing in an Employment Tribunal. Case Number: 3335219/2018[3]Rule 47 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013 provides: “If a party fails to attend or to be represented at the hearing, the Tribunal may dismiss the claim or proceed with the hearing in the absence of that party. Before doing so, it shall consider any information which is available to it, after any enquiries that may be practicable, about the reasons for the party’s absence.”[4]Having considered all of the information available to me, including in the pleadings, it appeared to me to be appropriate to dismiss the claims.