Law at work 2020 - the trade union guide to employment law (July 2020)

Chapter 14

Unless Orders

[ch 14: page 503]

Where a party fails to take a step ordered by the tribunal, the judge can give one last chance by making an Unless Order. This is an order requiring a party to do something by a specific date, on the understanding that if the step is not taken, the claim will be struck out (that is, dismissed automatically). Non-compliance with an Unless Order is always very serious. It can result in being barred from bringing or defending the claim.

The effect of an Unless Order, once breached, is to strike out the claim automatically without another tribunal hearing. The tribunal writes to notify the party that their claim has been struck out but this letter is just an administrative step. A party who wants to challenge an Unless Order must appeal against it. Once an Unless Order has been made and not reversed on appeal, non-compliance will lead to the claim being dismissed automatically, however draconian the terms of the Unless Order (Uwhubetine and Njoku v NHS Commissioning Board England and three other respondents [2019] UKEAT/0264/18/JOJ).


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