Postponement of Rule 21 hearing and application under Rule 20 to file a response late

[register]

A Rule 21 hearing was listed because the Respondent did not file a Response within 28 days of receipt of the claim form and had not filed an application under Rule 20 for an extension of time to file his response late.

According to Rule 20 of the Employment Tribunal Regulation 2013, the Respondent can make an application for an extension of time to file his response late and if this application is granted the judgment made under Rule 21 will be set aside i.e. the decision to list a Rule 21 hearing.

The Respondent did not make any such application for an extension of time under Rule 20 before the Rule 21 hearing takes place.

However, on the day of the Rule 21 hearing this hearing was postponed because there was no judge available to conduct this hearing

The respondent did not make any application under rule 71 within 14 days for the reconsideration of the decision of the Employment Tribunal to hear this 21 Rule hearing at a future date.

I would like to know if the Respondent has the right to take advantage of the postponement of the Rule 21 hearing, which was not due to a fault of my own, to make now an application under rule 20 for an extension of time to file late his response and to ask for this Rule 21 hearing to be cancelled.

[ULA]

Not the first time I have heard of hearings being postponed due to lack of judicial availability.

In theory yes they can make an application for a late filing, however a Judge would need to consider this and make a decision as to whether or not to agree to it.

[register]

Under Rule 21 a judge could decide either to adjudicate on the claim or to order a hearing to which the Respondent will allow to participate only with the permission of the tribunal.

If an application under Rule 20 for an extension of time is granted the decision taken under Rule 21 will be set aside but will this set aside also the decision taken during the Rule 21 hearing itself?

Hence, the issue is to know if it is not too late for the Respondent to make an application under Rule 20 and whether or not the Respondent should have made his application under Rule 20 before the date of the initial Rule 21 hearing i.e. before this hearing was postponed?

Otherwise, the question will be there is a time limit to make an application for an extension of time under Rule 20? Can the Respondent make this application several years after the claim has been adjudicated during a hearing under Rule 21?

The other question is also whether or not it will be fair that the Employment Tribunal allows the Respondent to take advantage of the postponement of a hearing to make an application for an extension of time under Rule 20 which should have been made a long time ago

[register]

The Respondent already filed a first Response several months late but it should have been rejected and the Employment Tribunal sent a correspondence to the parties saying that the Respondent has to file an application for an extension of time.

I do not know the contents of this first response because the Respondent did not copy it to me.

At this time the Respondent did not file any application for an extension of time under rule 20 despite the request of the Employment Tribunal
In the meantime several months later the Employment Tribunal listed a hearing under Rule 21 because no application for an extension of time was filed. Following the listing of this Rule 21 hearing the Respondent also did not file any application for an extension of time.

When the day of the Rule 21 hearing arrived the tribunal postponed this hearing at a future date. At this time also the Respondent did not file any application for an extension of time under Rules 20.

It is only two months later that the Respondent finally filed an application for an extension of time under Rule 20 without putting forward any explanation for these numerous and long delays (in total the response should have been filed nearly two years ago).

In these circumstances I would like to know if the Employment Tribunal will grant this extension of time and if it does if an extension of time under Rule 20 has become an “automatic right”

These delays caused me a lot of inconvenience because I did a lot of work for this 21 hearing and I was mentally prepared to the idea to have a Rule 21 hearing which advantages me and now to be denied to it makes me upset .

[ULA]

It would be really helpful if you could set out a time line of what has happened starting with the date you submitted your ET1.

Was the respondent ordered to file an application for extension of time?

[register]

1.September 2022 claim issued and sent to the Respondent requesting him that he file a response within 28 days

2. March 2023 the Employment Tribunal sent to the Parties a "no response received" correspondent warning the Respondent that he has not filed a Response within 28 days and as a consequence a Rule 21 hearing could be listed

3. December 2023 a correspondence from the Employment Tribunal advised the Respondent that he has to file an application for an extension of time

4. May 2024 a Rule 21 hearing is listed for July 2024

5, July 2024 this hearing is postponed

6.August 2024 the Respondent filed his application for an extension of time.

You ask if the Employment Tribunal has issued an order requested the Respondent to file an application for an extension of time but I think that the tribunal cannot force the Respondent to file such application because it is up to the Respondent to decide if he files it

[ULA]

There is no "automatic right" for an extension of time in submitting an ET3. However if an application has now been made then it will need to be considered by a Judge.

Sorry if my question confused, I was more interested in finding out whether or not in December 2023 the correspondence from the ET gave a deadline by which any application for an extension of time should be filed by, given it was already over a year past the original 28 days deadline and if not filed what the potential consequences would be.

[register]

In the correspondence of the Employment Tribunal of December 2023 no deadline was given and information about the consequence of not filing a response or an application for an extension of time, however; this information was already provided to the Respondent in the Acknowledge of Claim sent to the parties in September 2022 and in the "no Response received' correspondence of March 2023

[ULA]

Thank you for clarifying.

On the application to extend I would like to think that after all this time it would be denied but I would not like to commit to that being the decision.