Witness Statement-Need Help

Savannahh

My ET hearing for unfair dismissal is scheduled for one day next month.

I have done my witness statement but is it too long at 8200 words?

On the witnwess statement can I include discrepancies that I have with the Respondents ET3 - a lot of what they say happened is untrue & they have fabrictated some documents?

Once I have seen the Respondent's evidence can I state what I believe to be fabricated?

Thanks

jazzyman01

Your witness statement is not restricted to a limit regarding words, although this does seem rather lengthy. Are you including the actual wording from some of the documents in your bundle? If so, remove and direct the panel to the relevant bundle document by the page number. This is easily done by putting the reference in eg "on 1 September I sent a letter outlining my grievance (page 23)" the page refers to the document in the bundle. The panel will be directed to that page, they will spend time reading it and then ask you to continue.

A lengthy witness statement will mean that the 1 day hearing is likely to be longer. You will have been given the opportunity to put forward your reasons why you think it should be longer - did you do this?

Nassy

I agree with jazzyman01. Also if you feel your former employer has contradicted themselves in places, I would have thought you would be better off trying to capitalise on this during cross examination. This is surely where you should seek to exploit weakness.

I feel that the witness statement should be relevant and concise. It should surely get the tribunal to focus on the arguments that, if proven, will win the case. A long ambling statement is likely to do the opposite and the panel are only human beings and most people can only concentrate for a certain length of time.

Finally - I would personally seek a lawyer's advice at this stage of the game.. May be just a couple of hours of time focused in very specific areas could really help.

Savannahh

Thanks for the replies..yes I have repeated some of the words from the ET3 as this is where the Respondent is being unthruthful. The problem is the Respondent did not number or space the paragraphs on the ET3 so I've had to repeat. I think what I will do is manually number the paragraphs myself & make reference to these without quoting the actual words.