Employment Tribunal Case Management

Not4coping

I've been helping a friend through a long running dispute with a huge multi-national since early 2006. She went to an ET and won on various counts including sex discrimination, disability discrimination, substantive unfair dismissal and victimisation ....

She was unrepresented at the Tribunal, her Union-backed solicitor having withdrawn their services the day before the Tribunal began.

She has to attend a Case Management Discussion next week prior to a Remedy Hearing in Jan - Feb next year.

Can anyone advise on what she should expect at the CMD? What will she need to take? What might she be asked to produce?

The two week tribunal took an awful lot out of her, and I just want to reduce any pressure of having to attend the place again as much as possible.

Any help/advice gratefully received.

Horace

One wonders why the Union solicitor withdrew?? I would be asking why.

From what I understand a Case Management Hearing is just that - it is a hearing to discuss ways in which the tribunal case will be handled. You can take evidence with you that the opposition may not have and the tribunal will ask you to give permission for that to be released to the opposition. I never attended my CMD because it coincided with a spell in hospital.

As the case is partly a disability discrimination case, your friend should be prepared for the opposition to come back and claim that she isn't disabled. In this instance she needs to provide some form of proof, I had it with mine, my ex employer informed the adjudicator at the CMD that I wasn't disabled in any way at which point my union rep produced a copy of a memo that had been sent to HR from the employer's Occy Health dept clearly stating that I was classed as disabled under the terms of the DDA.

Hope this helps? I would also be asking the union why their solicitor dropped out.

jobbingmusician

It wasn't Unite the Union by any chance, was it?

I read the original post as that the Tribunal had already been heard, and this was a meeting to discuss remedies - i.e. what sort of compensation should be provided. But maybe I've misunderstood....

zzzLazyDaisy

Yes, I read it that way too.

Sounds like she won her case and there is going to be a remedy hearing when compensation will be decided.

It must have been a complicated case as case management hearings for remedy are comparatively rare, so she did well to win her case, especially as she lost her legal representative at such short notice (I'd be lodging a complaint with the union about that).

The case management hearing is just so that the tribunal can direct the parties as to what they need to do next - for example, if the applicant has found another job she will need to produce evidence of her earnings, if not she will need to produce evidence of her attempts to get work, or if she can no longer work she may be asked to produce a medical report about this - crucially if the reason for her being unable to work is connected with the original dismissal/discrimination then this should be made very clear in the report, or her compensation could be reduced (the loss of earnings must have been CAUSED by the employer's behaviour, not by some other intervening event, such as an unrelated health problem)

Because there has been a finding of discrimination, the tribunal will normally also make an award of injury to feelings (upset and distress caused by the employer's actions) again a medical report about the effect of the employer's actions should be produced in connection with this part of the compensation.

She may also be ordered to provide a witness statement about how the discrimination has affected her - again this will affect compensation.

It is not necessary for her to attend the case management hearing, she will not be penalised if she doesn't go, but it will mean that she won't get chance to have ger say. For example, the employer's solicitor may ask for the doctor's report to be provided to them within (say) 14 days. She may know that her doctor takes longer than that to do a report, or even that he's on holiday/whatever. Or she may want to say that she wishes to get a report from her hospital consultant and that could take longer. Or they may ask for her witness statement within 7 days, and that might not be possible because (say) she is currently very unwell and unable to cope (a gp letter would be needed to confirm this). So it is worth her going, or at least sending someone to speak for her, if that's possible.

There will be no evidence given at this hearing, it is just an hearing to decide how the remedy hearing is going to be dealt with.

It might also be worth giving ACAS a ring, to see if there is any possibility of an agreed settlement on compensation without going to a further hearing - but she needs to get legal advice on this, re calculation of compensation, before agreeing to a negotiated settlement. I wonder, now she has won her case, if her union would assist her with the remedy hearing.

Also, I suppose she has checked her house insurance, as sometimes legal cover includes tribunal representation?

Not4coping

jobbingmusician wrote: »

It wasn't Unite the Union by any chance, was it?

I read the original post as that the Tribunal had already been heard, and this was a meeting to discuss remedies - i.e. what sort of compensation should be provided. But maybe I've misunderstood....

Correct, it was Unite the Union! Why do you ask? Any guesses re the solicitors employed?

Yes, the Tribunal has issued its Judgment. Apparently the CMD '... will be used to make Orders to enable the parties to prepare and exchange evidence to be relied on at a Remedy Hearing. The Orders will be directed at preparing evidence of loss out of any Tribunal findings made in the claimant’s favour'.

With regard to disability, there was a joint-expert report prepared for the Tribunal and the Respondent accepted (prior to the Tribunal commencing)that the Claimant's condition fell within the DDA.

Not4coping

Thanks for this, which sort of confirms what I thought.

I'm especially keen to determine that this is not going to be a repeat of the totally OTT adversarial hearing that she had to endure over a period of two weeks.

So, there's no new evidence given here? It's just for the Tribunal Judge to tell both parties what information is required from them, and by when, so that the Tribunal can determine remedy?

Should she be taking (and defending) the Schedule of Loss submitted pre-tribunal by the union's solicitors? Should she be preparing an updated Schedule?

jobbingmusician

The reason I suggested Unite the Union is that they did something very similar with me. They referred my case to a solicitor who concluded I had a good case. They changed solicitors and the new ones concluded I did not have a case, and advised me to withdraw the case, noting that I would likely be liable for any costs incurred by the other side.

My stroppy letter to the union pointing out that I had only brought the case on their (original solicitors') advice simply did not get the courtesy of a proper reply. Eventually they referred the case to a third panel of solicitors, but the union didn't bother to communicate with me any more, even to tell me what the new solicitors had said.

I brought the case myself and won.

My guess is that the solicitors, if in London, might be P****** B***** Am I right?

I wonder if we should unite against Unite - I have another serious case against them (which I will not go into on a public forum) - PM me if interested.

In reply to your question above, I don't actually know, but would suspect an updated schedule might be a very good idea, together with any further expenses incurred since the hearing or not already submitted.

zzzLazyDaisy

Not4coping wrote: »

Should she be taking (and defending) the Schedule of Loss submitted pre-tribunal by the union's solicitors? Should she be preparing an updated Schedule?

She does not need to take the schedule of loss to the CMH. It really is just to give directions for the further conduct of the case. No evidence will be given at that hearing, and it should not be adversarial (although unfortunately some solicitors will take any and every chance to bully and brow beat the opposition, especially if that person is not represented).

She will need to produce a schedule of loss for the remedies hearing, and depending on whether her situation has altered, she may use the schedule prepared by the union's solicitors as it stands, or she may need to update it.

HOWEVER the remedies hearing is likely to mean that she will have to give evidence and be cross examined about her losses as, having lost the case, the employer's solicitors will be trying to knock the compensation down. So that hearing is likely to be adversarial.

But do bear in mind that many cases never actually get to a remedies hearing because once the schedule of loss and supporting documents have been produced, the employer will often seek to negotiate a settlement rather than spend yet more money on legal fees on another day in court.

As I said before, if she enters into settlement negotiations, she really does need to take advice on how compensation is likely to be calculated, as there are a number of aspects to take into account, depending on the tribunal findings.

It might be worth her while having an appointment with a specialist employment lawyer. Yes, she will have to pay, but if it means she gets a better deal at the remedies hearing (or in settlement negotiations) it will be worth it.