It’s good to talk
While a case is going on, the parties have to speak to each other. The practicalities of running a case require it. Disclosure needs to be completed, witness statements exchanged, settlements negotiated and so on.
This means that, if the other side wants to speak to you, you probably have to speak to them. Of course, it’s possible to screen your calls and refuse to call them back, no matter how many messages they leave or emails they send. But it’s a bad idea. It will slow (or even stop) progress towards a hearing. It will annoy the other side to no good purpose (think how irritating it is if they refuse to talk to you when you want to get something sorted). The tribunal will probably think it’s unreasonable and (if you really stick your head in the sand) there may be costs implications.
But this doesn’t mean that you have to speak to the other side whenever they want or about anything they want. If the Respondent leaves you a message saying ‘Please ring, we’d like to have a without prejudice conversation’ you should ring them back and listen to what they say. But if they make an offer and want to discuss it, it’s reasonable to say something like ‘I’ll have to think about this. I’ll give you a call in a few days.’ Similarly, if you’re a representative, it’s perfectly normal to say ‘I’m not in a position to discuss this in detail now. I’ll need to speak to my client.’