F Atack Mrs Malgorzata Ornowska v Bryant Park Hospitality UK Ltd — 2018

This decision concerned a preliminary hearing listed for 17 January 2018 in Glasgow. The claimant attended in person with a Polish interpreter. She asked for the hearing to be postponed because her solicitor had resigned shortly before the hearing, she was not ready to present the case herself, and she needed time to prepare and to understand the English-language documents in the bundle.

The respondent opposed postponement, pointing to the age of the case, the fact that there had already been two earlier preliminary hearings, the expense already incurred, and its position that the proposed amendment was out of time and lacked merit. The tribunal referred to the overriding objective in Rule 2 of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013 and to O'Cathail v Transport for London [2013] IRLR 310 when balancing fairness to both parties.

The tribunal granted the postponement. It accepted that the claimant had only recently lost legal representation and that, given her limited English and inability to read the documents unaided, she would be disadvantaged if required to proceed immediately. The tribunal also took account of the delay and expense to the respondent, but decided on balance that fairness required an adjournment.

The preliminary hearing was relisted for 1 March 2018 in Glasgow to consider the claimant's application for leave to amend and the respondent's application for strike out. The tribunal said an interpreter would be arranged for the postponed hearing and warned the claimant that any further request for postponement on the same basis might not be favourably received.