Postponement requests

If you need to request an adjournment, you must apply to the tribunal, with evidence to support your application, explaining the reasons why and for how long. If the application is on medical grounds, you should provide medical evidence, such as a letter from your consultant or GP. It must explain that you are too unwell to attend the hearing, and if possible indicate when you are likely to be well enough. Simply providing a GP certificate signing you off work is unlikely to be enough. Recent cases suggest a tougher approach by tribunals, even towards genuinely ill claimants. For example, in Riley v The CPS [2013] EWCA Civ 951, a claimant with severe depression was refused an adjournment because medical experts could see no prospect of her being well enough for her hearing in the next two years. The Court of Appeal said that the human right to a “fair trial within a reasonable time” is available not just to the claimant but also to the employer and to other claimants waiting for their cases to be scheduled.

Transport for London v O’Cathnail [2013] EWCA Civ 21, is another example. The claimant in this case had a chest infection and asked for a last minute adjournment. He supplied a letter from his GP confirming his condition and treatment. This was not the first adjournment of his case due to ill health. Even though the medical evidence showed that his medical condition was genuine and short-term, the Court of Appeal refused to interfere with a tribunal’s decision to refuse an adjournment and to hear the claim in his absence.