The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held in the case of
Emuemukoro v Croma Vigilant (Scotland) Ltd that a tribunal is
entitled to strike out a response when, due to the respondent's
non-compliance, it is no longer possible to conduct a fair
trial.
The tribunal struck out the respondent's response on day one
of a five-day hearing as it had not complied with tribunal orders.
This resulted in it not being possible to hold a fair trial within
the allocated window for the hearing. The respondent had failed to
prepare witness statements and produced a bundle that was missing
many of the relevant documents.
The respondent appealed the decision arguing that strike out
should only happen when a fair trial was impossible, but the EAT
disagreed. It had that the tribunal was entitled to strike out in
these circumstances rather than taking the decision to adjourn the
hearing.
