claiming compensation due to failed cot3 agreement

yorkat

Hi


Last year I represented my wife in an employment tribunal case.
The case was settled before going to tribunal.
As part of the signed settlement the company stated they would not pursue a claimed overpayment of sick pay .

We recently received a debt invoice from the company for the amount and stating that if it wasnt paid within 5 days court action would be taken.


Can we claim in small claims court for breach of cot3 and for the stress caused to my wife when receiving the debt invoice. If so what is a reasonable amount to claim for. She has health issues and the company were fully aware of this as documents in the original tribunal bundle show they were considering terminating employment due to her health.

The company were contacted and given a week to respond. I then contacted them and said I would now look to take court action and seek compenasation. Suddenly a letter of apology was sent but in it it states they were aware the debt invoice would go out. They claim it was sent before the deadline but the franking machine clearly shows the day after.
I again wrote giving them 7 days to compensate my wife but didnt even receive a reply.

Any help and advice much appreciated.

wealdroam

yorkat wrote: »

Hi


Last year I represented my wife in an employment tribunal case.
The case was settled before going to tribunal.
As part of the signed settlement the company stated they would not pursue a claimed overpayment of sick pay .

We recently received a debt invoice from the company for the amount and stating that if it wasnt paid within 5 days court action would be taken.


Can we claim in small claims court for breach of cot3 and for the stress caused to my wife when receiving the debt invoice. If so what is a reasonable amount to claim for. She has health issues and the company were fully aware of this as documents in the original tribunal bundle show they were considering terminating employment due to her health.

The company were contacted and given a week to respond. I then contacted them and said I would now look to take court action and seek compenasation. Suddenly a letter of apology was sent but in it it states they were aware the debt invoice would go out. They claim it was sent before the deadline but the franking machine clearly shows the day after.
I again wrote giving them 7 days to compensate my wife but didnt even receive a reply.

Any help and advice much appreciated.

So let's summarise that.

Your wife got a letter requesting a debt be paid.

You wrote to them denying the debt and seeking (an unknown amount of) compensation for the stress that receiving the letter caused.

They wrote apologising for sending the letter, but instead of posting it on day seven, they posted it on day eight.

You/your wife still want compensation.

If that's a fair assessment, then you will need to quantify your losses.
To me, it looks like your losses are pretty close to the cost of a couple of postage stamps.

What's a cot3?
Does the small claims court handle breaches of them?

zzzLazyDaisy

A COT3 is the form which ACAS uses to record the terms of a settlement agreement.

The employer did not breach the COT3 - taking the former employee to court for the overpaid sick pay would be a breach of the COT3, and the former employee would deny the debt and produce the COT3 in their defence. The employer would be highly unlikely to win such a claim in those circumstances.

What actually happened was that the employer sent a letter attempting to reclaim the money - probably because their book-keeper (or whoever sent the letter) wasn't kept in the loop. OP wrote and denied the debt and the company apologised for its mistake. OP will be on a hiding to nothing if they try to litigate on this (in my view).

yorkat

Thanks for the replies.

The agreement stated they would not purse the claim which they clearly have done. My main question is would a small claims court consider compensation for the stress caused.

keithdc

yorkat wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

The agreement stated they would not purse the claim which they clearly have done. My main question is would a small claims court consider compensation for the stress caused.

The court would consider it and then ask you what financial loss you have actually incurred.

How much stress can one letter cause??

Fosterdog

yorkat wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

The agreement stated they would not purse the claim which they clearly have done. My main question is would a small claims court consider compensation for the stress caused.

I wouldn't say it was clear that they are pursuing a claim. They probably sent the letter the day before as they said they had, a lot of companies save all mail to frank and post once a day, if the letter had missed the cut off for the day they said it was sent, it would go into the pile for the next day.

What was the date on the actual letter itself?

They apologised and admitted it was sent in error and explained it was done before the ruling. They have said they will not be pursuing a claim. What more do you actually want?

If it had turned up with a franking date of the day before are you saying you would not have found it stressful and you would accept the apology or would you still make a fuss?

yorkat

No sorry am probably not being clear.
The letter that caused the stress arrived out of the blue and gave us 5 days to pay or court action would be taken. That is what caused the stress. My wife already has serious health issues which they were aware of. I dont really want to go into those details but I can assure everyone they are just about as serious as it gets.

I followed what is suggested by court guidance and tried to resolve it myself. I gave them a week to respond. They didnt I then contacted them to say I was considering court action then suddenly they claimed they had written before the deadline but their own franking machine clearly showed this was not the case.

If we had broken any of the many agreements listed they would have solicitors taking action against us. They have broken the one agreement listed against them and clearly dont care. If there is nothing that can be done what is the point of cot3 agreements apart from solicitors making good money out of it

mattyprice4004

yorkat wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

The agreement stated they would not purse the claim which they clearly have done. My main question is would a small claims court consider compensation for the stress caused.

We really are turning into America. Compensation for a letter? Christ
Find a real problem to get upset about.

pmduk

Move on, the co have apologised, you're doing your wife's health no good by pursuing this. Let it all go.

Crazy_Jamie

yorkat wrote: »

No sorry am probably not being clear.
The letter that caused the stress arrived out of the blue and gave us 5 days to pay or court action would be taken. That is what caused the stress. My wife already has serious health issues which they were aware of. I dont really want to go into those details but I can assure everyone they are just about as serious as it gets.

I followed what is suggested by court guidance and tried to resolve it myself. I gave them a week to respond. They didnt I then contacted them to say I was considering court action then suddenly they claimed they had written before the deadline but their own franking machine clearly showed this was not the case.

If we had broken any of the many agreements listed they would have solicitors taking action against us. They have broken the one agreement listed against them and clearly dont care. If there is nothing that can be done what is the point of cot3 agreements apart from solicitors making good money out of it

There are numerous issues with the position that you're taking here.

The first is that there is a debate as to whether they have actually breached the COT3 or not. One (probably automated) letter was sent, but this was followed by an apology. Realistically the company would argue that they never did intend to pursue the claim and that the letter was sent in error. Which they may or may not succeed in showing, but nevertheless that aspect of the case is not clear cut.

The more fundamental issue relates to the 'stress' caused by the letter. It is worth clarifying that it is possible to claim for stress where the psychological effect amounts to a diagnosable medical condition. In your case your wife suffers from a condition already, which the company was aware of. However, in order to succeed in a claim you would have to show a causative link between the action taken by the company and an exacerbation of that condition. You would need to obtain medical evidence to show that, but in any event in my view it is unlikely to be the case, firstly because it was just one letter, and secondly because if as you say your wife's condition is 'just about as serious as it gets' it's hard to see how the actions of the company can make it worse. Causing stress and exacerbating a condition are two different things, and you would have to demonstrate the latter to succeed in a claim.

Ultimately pursuing such a claim against the company would likely take time and effort on your part. You may succeed, but that is unlikely from where I'm sitting and any damages that you do win may well be nominal.

In those circumstances, if your priority is the health of your wife, surely the best thing to do would be to let this go and move on? Principles are all fine and dandy, but if you allow your principles to drive your actions here you run the risk of getting stuck in protracting correspondence and/or litigation with the company, which is surely going to have a more detrimental effect on your wife than that letter ever did.

bris

Small claims court don't deal with stress, just provable losses.

A mistake like this is easily dismissed, your wife has bigger problems that should be dealt with.