Miss K Matyka v Sports Direct.com Retail Limited — 2020

On 16, 17 and 18 November 2020 at Nottingham, Employment Judge J Blackwell sat with Mr G Edmondson and Mrs L Lowe. The tribunal's unanimous decision was not to determine the merits of Miss Matyka's claim at that stage, but to adjourn the case part-heard so that it could be resumed before the same tribunal on a date to be fixed.

The reasons record that on the third day Miss Matyka became gradually more upset, and after two breaks and the lunch adjournment the tribunal considered she was not fit to continue. The respondent proposed dealing with the remaining cross-examination by written questions, but the tribunal found Miss Matyka was not able to manage that either. Because 19 November 2020 had been allocated as decision day and was not available as a hearing day, the tribunal considered it had no alternative but to adjourn.

The tribunal also recorded two concerns: first, Miss Matyka's health and whether it was in her interests to continue pursuing the claim, and second, that her cross-examination had not yet been directed to the issues the tribunal had to decide. It noted that she was a litigant in person and had a very limited understanding of English, and it balanced those difficulties against the respondent's irrecoverable costs and Miss Matyka's mental condition. No substantive liability or remedy finding was made in this judgment.