Employment tribunal help please

davey9998

Submitted grievance in 2011, grievance not upheld. Went back to work after being ill with stress. Boss made life hard at work as grievance was about him. He subtly undermined me by making job difficult.

Examples are
Advertised my job, moved my work location far away, put me under lots of stress. I kept pointing out this to hr. they did nothing.

Eventually had breakdown in early 2013 and had to resign.

Claiming constructive dismissal and disability discrimination.

Their solicitors are trying to frighten me off saying my claim is misconceived and theyll go for substantial costs against me. They say my health is due to other factors and that my claim has no merit.

This worries me.

I have emails and doctors notes etc but they want me to pull out of claim soon before pre hearing review otherwise theyll persue costs.

I dont want to be and am not vexatious but can i wait to see what the people at the pre hearing say before deciding whether to stop claim or pursue it? Ie if they agree with employer ill back out but would that be too late and theyll try to get costs against me?


Thanks

OneYorkshireLass

If you have house insurance does it cover legal costs?

I got as far as the pre trial hearing and could gauge what the judge felt about the case, but I don't know if that's the case with every judge.

Most legal teams will try tactics such as 'we'll make you pay costs'. If you're confident about your case then you need to weigh up whether you're mentally and emotionally strong enough to go ahead, and whether you'll regret it if you don't.
I know I regret taking a pay off, but at that time I was a mess and couldn't have coped with the stresses of a trial.

Rylynn

Hi

I am really sorry to hear about your troubles.

Did your certificates sign you off with stress, and did it state work related? Did you discuss the problem with your GP and do you think he/she will back you up?

I hate this when a company tries bully boy tactics.

On what grounds was your grievance thrown out?

Do you have evidenced proof he advertised your job?

Are you in a union? and finally is this a large or small company?

I hope someone with more knowledge on such matters will be along tomorrow to offer you some more advice, and mine would be to seek some from your local CAB.

Sorry for so many questions, but it helps if we know some more details.

Take care.

Pricivius

Whilst I appreciate that some employers will throw out a costs warning a the drop of a hat, others will use them sparingly and oly when they genuinely think the claim is misconceived. It's unhelpful in my mind to presume that OP's employer is being a bully - maybe they have a point?

OP - have you taken legal advice? There are law centres and the CAB if you are not in a union or your insurance does not cover it.

In answer to your questions, technically, once a party has issued a costs warning, they can apply for their costs at any point going forwards. So yes, if you wait until the PHR, they could apply for their costs of preparing and attending. However, costs are rarely awarded by the ET. You need to consider yourself in all of this and what outcome you want and then aim for that.

ILW

Why was the oriiginal grievance not upheld?

Crazy_Jamie

Pricivius wrote: »

Whilst I appreciate that some employers will throw out a costs warning a the drop of a hat, others will use them sparingly and oly when they genuinely think the claim is misconceived.

Though to be fair, it tends to be more the former rather than the latter.

However, my concern in this case is that constructive dismissal is, as a general rule, very difficult to win. There are also a number of hurdles to jump in a disability discrimination claim. Whilst the OP no doubt feels wronged, if no legal advice has been sought it is perfectly possible that the claim is misconceived from a legal perspective.

It is very unusual for the Employment Tribunal to award costs, as has already been said, and it is even more unusual for costs to be awarded against a Claimant who does not have the benefit of legal advice. At the same time, clearly it is in the OP's interest to determine whether or not the case does have reasonable prospects irrespective of whether there are costs consequences or not.

I'm happy to weigh in on your prospects if you post more information, but in a case that likely has a fair amount of detail in it, you may wish to seek advice from other sources than on an internet forum.

davey9998

thanks all.

I had no history of stress/anxiety before this job.

my doctors notes state work related stress.

my doctor has written a letter backing me up.

the grievance was not upheld (in my opinion) because I did do something wrong with work emails and that boss intercepted them and read them which I admit to and that he is the owner of the company so I don't think I was perfect. However, after the grievance he made things so bad - I think he used the emails as a way to get rid of me but I wasn't actually got rid of, I was given a written warning instead. That's why I think I saw my job advertised around that time and things went from bad to worse from then on.

they also are trying to use other notes in medical history to say that my issues/health wasn't work related but i'm saying it is.

Crazy_Jamie

davey9998 wrote: »

I think he used the emails as a way to get rid of me but I wasn't actually got rid of, I was given a written warning instead. That's why I think I saw my job advertised around that time and things went from bad to worse from then on.

Just an obvious point to make here. It is not an unusual argument for those claiming constructive dismissal to say that an employer was trying to get rid of them. However, in your case it seems that your employer may have had an opportunity to do so and didn't take it, which somewhat undermines your position. Only you know what you did, and therefore it may well be that it is not something that would constitute gross misconduct, and therefore an immediate dismissal. But if it is something that was that serious, be careful about making an argument that your employer was trying to engineer your exit. Such an argument is inherently weak if your employer actually had an opportunity to legitimately get rid of you and chose not to take it, which in turn may weaken your entire constructive dismissal claim.

Pricivius

I suggest you take legal advice if you haven't already. Constructive dismissal is a very difficult claim to prove and win. You have to show that your employer fundamentally breached your contract - this is very tricky.

Have a think about what you want - if £1,000 will settle this for you, offer to withdraw for £3,000 through ACAS and see what they say.

davey9998

ok thanks.

the boss was the person that instigated the meeting and the disciplinary etc but then passed it to HR. HR decided not to get rid of me because a lot of the reasons why I was disciplined were unfounded after I gave my evidence.

I then raised a grievance and it was after that that things went downhill because the person the grievance was against couldn't take it. then that's when the way I was treated became worse.