My Employment Tribunal CLaim: A Question or Two

Suhari

joanne_d wrote: »

Hi .

Your situation sounds a lot like the tribunal case i have just helped my husband through !

The solicitor acting on behalf of his ex employer was a complete b***h lol !

She was in the habit of not responding to any of our correspondence , she ignored deadlines and refused to supply us with anything we asked for until the very last second !

Really gets on your nerves doesnt it !

Fortunately our case is over now , was heard in early August and boy am i relieved !

Dont give up , keep fighting .

Thanks for both replies.

No chance of giving up! Just a case of navigating the silliness of the other side.

Will let you know how things progress.

Suhari

So I got a call from ACAS late on Friday, informing me of the Respondent's offer to settle, and stressing they had set a decision deadline for close of play the same day or 'they will go to court'.

No real threat that, since I am fully expecting it to get to hearing.

The offer was pathetic, and I said no.

Spent the rest of the day wondering what prompted them to make an offer now. The answer was on my doormat when I got home...

..I was cc'd on a letter from the Judge stating he is considering Striking Out the response due to their failure to comply with the Case Management Order. The letter invites the Respondent to write (by a specific date) and explain why the response should not be struck out; the Judge will then make a decision.

:rotfl:

I still expect to go to ET, and I am continuing my preparation for it; however I am interested as to why the Judge may/may not strike it out? Is it likely to be easy for the Respondent to continue to hearing?

Have to say I am really enjoying this now!

joanne_d_3

Thats just a usual tactic...making an offer and saying that it is only available for a short period of time !

Seeing as how they have made you one offer , chances are now that you have refused they will continue making offers until one is accepted , this may well be on the morning of the hearing just as you are about to go in.

Theres nothing stopping you making a counter offer though . Just contact them (in writing) and state that you have received their offer but unfortunatly you shall not be accepting and then state that you would however reconsider for £X .

SarEl

Suhari wrote: »

I still expect to go to ET, and I am continuing my preparation for it; however I am interested as to why the Judge may/may not strike it out? Is it likely to be easy for the Respondent to continue to hearing?

Have to say I am really enjoying this now!

Tribunals rarely actually strike out because it is a fundamental of law that there should be two parties to a hearing, and if there isn't (even if it is their fault) an appeal is more likely. Such letters are really "boots up backsides". In the cases it does happen someone has to have really pushed the patience of the trubunal to breaking point - and tribunals are very patient creatures.

Suhari

joanne_d wrote: »

Thats just a usual tactic...making an offer and saying that it is only available for a short period of time !

Seeing as how they have made you one offer , chances are now that you have refused they will continue making offers until one is accepted , this may well be on the morning of the hearing just as you are about to go in.

Theres nothing stopping you making a counter offer though . Just contact them (in writing) and state that you have received their offer but unfortunatly you shall not be accepting and then state that you would however reconsider for £X .

Yep, bang on. I am well-versed in negotiations: a big part of my job/career. Time is a big factor.

I decided not to put a counter in at this stage, since they will receive my Schedule of Loss in the coming few days.....then we can talk.

Suhari

SarEl wrote: »

Tribunals rarely actually strike out because it is a fundamental of law that there should be two parties to a hearing, and if there isn't (even if it is their fault) an appeal is more likely. Such letters are really "boots up backsides". In the cases it does happen someone has to have really pushed the patience of the trubunal to breaking point - and tribunals are very patient creatures.

I suspected it would be more of a kick up the !!!!!

Getting interesting now though.

Will keep you all updated......

flashnazia

Suhari wrote: »

I am taking my former employer to an Employment Tribunal: unfair dismissal by way of redundancy. ET1 has been completed and accepted....

My ET claim is for Unfair Dismissal, based on a failure to follow process, and my belief that my selection was pre-determined. Specific points being:

• Lack of effective consultation (no consultation at all following announcement of redundancy)
• Failure of the company to allow me to be accompanied to relevant meetings
• Poor selection criteria: and a failure to show how I had been scored, or to discuss the scoring with me
• Failure of the company to give me the right to appeal the decision (I understand this makes it 'Automatically Unfair')
• My boss’s comments that if I did not accept the new role I would be made redundant

I'm sorry to sound a bit negative here (it may be that I have skim read and not grasped all the issues) but I don't really see what the problem is?

Sounds as though there was a genuine redundancy situation (job disappeared or work diminished etc) which you admit.

You were told about it and the employer offered you a suitable alternative role (which is their obligation, if any are available). You could have undertaken a four-week trial to see if it suited you and if it didn't you could have accepted a redundancy payment (a payment that is seen as compensation for losing you job).

Yours points for claiming:

Suhari wrote: »

• Lack of effective consultation (no consultation at all following announcement of redundancy) Consultation started when they offered you the other role? Thats how I see it.
  
• Failure of the company to allow me to be accompanied to relevant meetings That might be a valid point but did you ask for the right and they refused? Or was it just that you didn't ask at the time and with hindsight believe your ex-employer should have notified you of your right?
  
• Poor selection criteria: and a failure to show how I had been scored, or to discuss the scoring with me That might be another valid point, did you ask for this and was refused?
  
• Failure of the company to give me the right to appeal the decision (I understand this makes it 'Automatically Unfair') No. This is incorrect as it applied under regualtions that have been repealed.
  
• My boss’s comments that if I did not accept the new role I would be made redundant I don't see anything wrong with this?
  

Also don't overestimate what the tribunal will award. I assume you have received a redundancy payment already so that will be disregarded in the calculation.

I wish you luck with your tribunal but just want to highlight what I perceive to be valid points. If I am barking up the wrong tree I welcome corrections.

tigerjock

Keep us posted Suhari, i've just put in my appeal letter and will be following your path...good luck

Suhari

tigerjock wrote: »

Keep us posted Suhari, i've just put in my appeal letter and will be following your path...good luck

Not been here for a while - thought I would let you know how it turned out.........

I refused their original offer; they doubled the offer and I refused that one without making a counter.

Inside a day they increased it; I refused - I made no counter offer.

Next day I put in my schedule of loss, including a 25% uplift to loss of earnings that I thought I could claim.

I was due to put in my witness statement on the following Monday, with the judge due to make a decision on strike out on the Wednesday.

On the Thursday before this I was cc'd on a letter to the Judge, from the other side's solicitor, stating that the respondant had fully complied with all orders and had already provided a list of documents; hence there was no grounds to strike out. They included the list of documents they sent to me under my DPA claim: the list was 17 pages long (the court order required the total bundle to be less than 100 pages).

I responsed (by email, cc'ing the judge) stating that if they had fully complied with all directions they would have no problem exchanging witness statements on the Monday. I proposed a time for an email exchange.

The next day I recieved an offer very close to the amount I was claiming. I offered a settlement a couple of thousand more than this.

Since I didn't get a response by close fo Friday I spent the weekend doing my 2 witness statements, and on the Monday I emailed them to the ET (cc'ing the Respondant) at the time I had proposed. I did not receive any statements from the respondant.

The following day I recieved a letter from the respondant's solicitor, admitting the dismissal was unfair, and offering to settle for the full amount I was claiming (excluding the 25% uplift - which they contested was not warranted - which was true).

So - I settled for just over 5 months salary, got an agreed reference, and have the satisfaction of the other side admitting it was unfair dismissal.

At times it was pretty stressful managing this, and there was a temptation (although small) to just walk away. SO glad I didn't.

My advice to others would be: know your rights around redundancies; consider your case on it's facts and without opinion/emotion (a hard thing to do); if, based on facts and your own research, you believe you have been unfairly dismissed DO NOT be bullied/put off by crappy solicitor tactics from the respondent; negotiate hard!

Many thanks to the advice from posters here.