Cancer patient fears dying without justice after tribunal delays

A disabled man with prostate cancer has had his employment tribunal for unfair dismissal postponed the day before it was due to take place because a judge was not available – 13 months after exactly the same thing happened.

- Haroon Siddique

Joe Mezgebe, an IT technician, who first presented his claim against Christ's College Finchley, an academy in north London, in June 2021, has lost £15,300 in fees to his barrister as a result of the cancellations, and fears he may not live to see justice done.

The former member of the armed forces, who uses crutches as a result of a 2015 car accident, was sacked from his job in 2021 and originally given a trial date of 14 September last year at Watford employment tribunal, in Hertfordshire, but his case was postponed on the eve of the hearing.

It was relisted for 26 September this year. But when Mezgebe and his barrister turned up at the tribunal they were told by a court official that his solicitors had been notified of a second postponement the previous day.

However, the notification, sent at 4.25pm the day before the supposed hearing date, had been emailed to someone who no longer worked at the law firm.