Iqbal v Metropolitan Police Service & Anor (Practice and Procedure : Postponement or stay)

The Tribunal wrongly refused an application for postponement on medical grounds:

(1)� It did not have regard to medical evidence, to which the Claimant referred it and which existed within the hearing bundle, confirming that he had been diagnosed with depression, given counselling and treated with anti-depressant medication,

(2)� It did not apply guidance given in Teinaz v London Borough of Wandsworth [2002] ICR 1471 ; in the circumstances it should have adjourned for a short period to enable the Claimant to seek medical advice.

This is an appeal by Mr Zaffar Iqbal, (�the Claimant�), against a judgment of the Employment Tribunal sitting in Watford (Employment Judge Manley presiding) dated 7 September 2011. The judgment records decisions made by the Tribunal at a hearing on 31 August 2011.� The Tribunal refused the Claimant�s application for a postponement on health grounds; consequent upon that refusal, the Claimant withdrew the claims he was making, and the Tribunal dismissed them.�

The principal question on this appeal is whether the Tribunal erred in law in refusing the application for an adjournment.� If the Tribunal erred in law, it is not disputed that the Claimant�s withdrawal consequent upon that refusal is of no effect and that the claims should not have been dismissed.