Employment Tribunal lies and delays

[shelley]

I have bought a claim against a previous employer for wrongful dismissal, unpaid holiday pay, non payment of Statutory Notice Pay and one other issue which is valid but not necessary for the purpose of this post. (protecting identity)

The employer is a sole trader and flaunts the law on many issues and has no respect for employees past or present.

He lies about everything and takes no responsibility for his actions.

We were due to exchange witness Statements and evidence relied upon for our case end of June and I applied to the Tribunal for an extension giving reasons etc. However, as no response was received from the Tribunal (they have a back-log of correspondence) by the day before the due date, I submitted my bundle and witness Statement to the respondent which was duly signed for (received on time inline with Tribunal Order).

However, the respondent did not comply.

A few days later I received the Tribunal's agreement to my extension. The respondent has had no prior contact with either the Tribunal or myself until today, whereby we have received an email requesting a further extension due to him having allegedly been on holiday.

The hearing is almost upon us and whilst my previous employer has the unfair advantage of having received my bundle as ordered by the Tribunal, I am sure that his delay tactics are vexacious and intended to hinder my case.

As the Tribunal have a back-log I am not sure if I request an 'Unless Order' whether this would make any difference to the timeframe involved. I am more inclined to request a change of date as the case has only been set for the standard 3 hours, and in the absence of the respondents bundle not having been received I cannot assure the Tribunal that sufficient time has been planned for this case.

What course of action(s) do the Tribunal have available in these type of situations? Can I request my case be heard in the absence of the respondents evidence and witness Statement?

[ULA]

Some options for you:

1. You could email the tribunal and object to the extension but you would need to provide very good reasons I.e. length of time after the original date due that the respondent has contacted the Tribunal to request an extension. The dates to comply with the case management order have been known for some time so given that, the bundle could have been disclosed in advance of the respondent's holiday to comply with the order. Although be prepared that as your request to extend was granted, even though this arrived too late, they may well agree to the respondent's request.
2. If the request for an extension is granted then in my view you could only apply for an Unless Order if the respondent does not comply with the dates of the extension.
3. If you want to change the date of the hearing, you will need a very good reasons as to why either you cannot attend or given the respondent gets an extension to produce the documents, then potentially short time to prepare.
4. The time allocation for the hearing is normally based on the type of claim that is being made.
5. If the respondent does not comply with an order of the Tribunal such as the case management order and they do not produce a bundle or witness statement then the case could be "struck out".