Employment Tribunal

realshannon

I took my very large employers to a tribunal after they failed to deal with the grievance. I then left the employment (found a better job) and continued with the ET. At the last minute I managed to secure help and funding via my house insurance, alot will assist with employment related cases. Unfortunately the company were not brill but most of the work I had already done myself as I was on my own until a couple of days beforehand. Anyway, I agree with the person above, I was offered a settlement, didnt take it, cant remember why but I had 2 ETs to start with, one for DDA the 2nd for the whole case, the 1st was great, the 2nd a stuffy chairman who was deaf and misheard everything. I went for a review, then managed to get it appealed through to London twice but despite being offered another settlement of an insulting amount, I went ahead and lost. I would add mine was a very complicated case involving disability discrimination and bullying but it went on for about 3 years all told. Yes it was worth it in some respects, as I achieved so much getting it to that stage, it wasnt about the money for me, pride and principles but looking back I wish I had taken the first settlement which wasnt a small amount and be done with it. Pride and principles can make you stubborn and there is more to life than wasting your spare time and weekends researching and stressing about deadlines and reams of paper! Overall, it depends on you as a person, I didnt find the process scary but its a joker card depending on your panel - my first chairman was lovely, the 2nd horrible, 3rd and 4th in London Appeal court, lovely. hope that helps

greendollar

Hi , I had my claim accepted in Aug 2008 and finally , fingers crossed , get to have my day in 2 weeks time . My employers have managed 3 postponments , all last minute , during the last 2 years . My union have taken on my case and apart from numerous letters threatening cost there has been very little correspondance from my employer , as yet they haven't even agreed to the bundle for the tribunal .
My claim for unfair dismissal is on the basis that other employees have been given far more lenient sanctions (verbal/written warnings) for the same offence .
Also I managed to get hold of the new works roster which was written by the area manager who dismissed me stating that due to my dismissal my colleagues would have to increase their hours to cover the work i would normally do ...... this roster was dated the day before my disciplinary . I'd been sacked before I'd even walked into the office .
My union are confident but I do understand that it can still go either way .
An award will be nice but I'm really looking forward to seeing these managers try to explain why I was dismissed when others have been allowed to carry on in their employment .....I'll let you know how I get on .

dickydonkin

greendollar - I have been following your situation with interest and hopefully you will 'have your day'.

I still believe that they will make an offer prior to the tribunal - the evidence you have quoted is damning, however, I bet they will state the dating of the roster was a typo - similar thing happened to MrsP.

I hope everything goes well for you.

greendollar

Hi dpassmore , yes , i've discussed the roster with union and they have said that my employer will most probably use the "typo" excuse , wether that will wash with the tribunal remains to be seen , the union says the roster isn't the complaint that will swing it for me but my treatment compared to the witnesses ( one of which I think is getting cold feet as he is still employed there ) that are attending . The roster is just the icing on the cake so to speak .
I have a feeling my employer will wait and see who turns up in regards to my witnesses before deciding if they will settle but it would be nice to see them squirm in front of a tribunal and it would be interesting to see if these managers are willing to lie . Not long now though .

Yockie

I am in a ET process right now, I dont have representative and you all scare me very much here.Are those ET-s so bad , really? I am the one that is making the bundle. The court order tells me to bring 5 copies on the day of the hearing, but the other party wants me to send them one now.
What do I do? Am I obligated to send them one copy? It does not contain witness statements, which should be exchanged at later date.

julia9134

I have just heard that I have been granted an ET that I was holding my breath to find out. They only took 2 days from submission to tell me, I'm impressed. I'd asked for an extension on the 3 months time limit for the Unfair Dismissal as I was in an internal appeal process. I was told that I didn't stand much chance of getting an extension as I'd been required to resign 13 months ago. I am very pleased and jus goes to show that it is worth applying for even if you think that you are out of time...

Yockie

Beside all that- anyone with oppinion about the bundle? Should I send the other party a copy now or as it states in the Judge's order- just to agree with the content and bring 5 copies on the first date of the hearing?

julia9134

Hi Yockie, I don't know anything about all of this either I'm afraid. However, if you have a Judge's order requesting you do anything at all then you need to do it. The other side also need your case file before the date of the hearing so that they are able to prepare. Likewise, they owe you their paperwork. If in doubt call the ET helpline, they should be able to answer this. As I say, if it's a judge's order then you must do it.
Hope this helps.

Yockie

julia9134,thank you for the answer, I did call my case worker, but she is so not competent, poor creature...everythiutng she cant answer- she says that its a legal matter and they cant give legal advise. I sais that its tehnical question, but nothing happened. I did call the national ET line, they cannot tell me either, LOL...They say- stick to the Judge order, noone cant make you do anything else. I think that as long as we disclose documents betwen us- we did- and they have everything they need to have as word document- Im not obligated to send them hard copy, they can make as much as they want, especially considering the fact, that they have the index already?

julia9134

If you've given it to them in Word and they just want you to send hard copies then it sounds like they're being awkward. If Judges order doesn't say anything about the format you give it to them then I would tell them to poke it... nicely of course! LOL