Employment Tribunal Advice Request - Employer Scare Tactics?

xjairusx

Hi everyone,

I am enquiring on behalf of my father who is currently due to attend an employment tribunal representing himself in the coming months. The paginated bundle has been sent by the respondent and following a request to add additional documentation to the bundle by the claimant, we today received an email stating that they believed that the claimant (my father) had no chance of winning having acted at best vexatiously, which is untrue. They refer to an apparent final written warning which was never issued around the dates of August 2012 and this has not been included in the paginated bundle or mentioned up until today, it is also not present in the index of the said bundle. The claimant has a letter regarding this incident which clearly states that no disciplinary action was to be taken at the time in respect to the incident which shows there to be no final written warning issued.
They state that they will recover costs if the case is not dropped within 7 days should the claimant lose at the tribunal hearing.

Can this email be used as additional documentation against the employer having not seeked a Pre hearing review to determine the likelihood of success at the tribunal?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I came across these pages which seemed to have some useful info on... but any clearing up by someone in the know would be greatly appreciated!

Some googleing revealed something about simms vs mckee case and had some useful info stating that the max award that could be seeked would be £10k unless referred to county court, the average was £1000 and out of 105,000 cases only 500 were asked to pay costs incurred by the respondent.

paulineb_2

Yes, some employers use scare tactics such as seeking orders for costs even if the case is winnable. Its generally the employment tribunal judge that orders a pre hearing review (CMD), case management discussion. Im in Scotland and things might be slightly different here, but also yes, people can make up documentation that never existed at the time, one of my ex bosses, when they knew I was going to tribunal, they had treated me appallingly, the letters I got were horrible from start to finish, they started re writing them, I ended up going to tribunal with two lots of documents.

The womans excuse was that she was no use with a pc. They also forged witnesses signatures on documents because they didnt want witnesses called.

Cost orders are made in very small percentages of cases and its very rare that a tribunal would pursue someone for costs if they didnt have any or much money.

All you can do is dispute this document if you believe it to be fake.

xjairusx

The document still hasn't shown up, and we have documentation which states this to be untrue... really appreciate the reply Pauline . I wonder if its worth keeping hold of the email to use as additional documents, but I think it might be down to specific wording whether its usable or not? We feel that they are totally unjust in stating that they believe so readily that we do not have a case and that the disciplinary proceedings were carried out correctly. Every part of their case they bring up, or every time we hear from the solicitor... it kind of feels like they keep giving us more stuff that we can easily disprove. And when we ask or provide any additional documentation to the respondent they try something new because I really think that they think they don't have a true case and everything on our side is pretty solid. They keep giving us discrepancy after discrepancy. Which as I'm trying to keep the nerve going for the old man, is reassuring to me... but am I right to feel quite so reassured... I feel quite a bit of pressure being an advisor and filling him full of false courage isn't something i'd feel very comfortable with should everything come crashing down! . I don't think it will come to that, but the stresses and worries of the family on my shoulders might be clouding my seemingly rational judgement surrounding the whole unfair dismissal and tribunal case as I see it. .

Is there anywhere I can receive more advice of perhaps free legal advice? My dad was not part of a union and the employer did have another case brought against him, but the tribunal declined the other employees application through the union and it never went any further. This also reassures me that the tribunal believe there to be a case to be heard fingers crossed!

paulineb_2

All I can say is, having been to tribunal, its horrible, its stressful, the 3 days I spent at tribunal were probably the most stressful of my life. I was sacked for complaining about my horrible working conditions, I was disciplined for going into grievance, suspended when off sick with work related stress, denied my notice pay.

My ex employers lied from start to finish. They came to tribunal with two sets of documents, the real ones (nasty), the fake ones, still nasty but toned down a lot and also extra documents that made it look like they followed procedure when they hadnt and couldnt have cared less.

I lost (and Im not telling you this to put you off). The judge who heard my case was someone who questions had been asked about in scottish parliament and who I believe had been barred from being involved with tribunals for a time period.

I used to believe a tribunal was somewhere that justice would always prevail if you had a case for unfair dismissal. I no longer believe that.
Im not saying this to discourage you, all Im saying is for me, it was never about the money, it wasnt about winning. A large part for me was about having my say and letting my ex employer know that they hadnt ruined my life. And they didnt.

And even though my bosses turned up to tribunal with dodgy documents and signatures on documents that had been forged (a colleague of mine got sacked for supporting me and took them to tribunal and they forged signatures on his documents as well), they were called credible and I wasnt.

Im not sure I would ever go through the process again, but I believe its everyones right to have a say at tribunal if they have been denied it throughout the disciplinary process and Im not sorry I did it.

I had no illusions about what my ex employers were like, because for a year and a half before they sacked me, I was working in conditions that were beyond intolerable, including where my safety was at risk and the police were involved and they did nothing.

All Im saying is, be prepared for anything, be prepared for forged documents, be prepared for people who your dad thought might support him to turn up and lie on the witness stand. It happens.

If you need help with the preparation of the case, the CAB can assist, but as far as I know they cant represent people. You also might get a lawyer to help prepare the case if your dad is on a low income and could apply for legal aid.

I had no idea how stressful it would be, after the first day I went home and said to my mum, I dont think I can continue. But I did. I didnt want reinstated anyway and as I said above, it was about me having my say. Losing didnt crush me, I had my 5 mins and I got over it.

Its hard going and all you can do is support your dad the best you can, it takes over your life to the point where you cant think about anything else.
But once its over, its over and personally speaking, I learned so much about employment law from the process (and Ive worked with some awful employers since) I learned how to stand up for myself when employers behaved badly.

Im not trying to put you off, Im just sharing my experience, from the outside looking in, its just going along to a hearing for a few days, telling your story and waiting on a decision.

The reality can be that it takes a toll on you and yours around you. But many people who end up at tribunal for unfair dismissal have probably been through the mill by that point anyway.

CAB or a legal aid solicitor would be your best bet I think.