Can I take a Past Employer to court?

kirsty_demetriou

Hi Everyone,

Just looking for some advice.... I left a company 05/2013 due to sickness stress at work etc. I was on sick at the placement for 1.5 years.

Before I went on sick leave I still had 6 days of annual leave remaining which i did not take due to being on sick leave.

I received a letter for an "INFORMAL INTERVIEW" and when the meeting took place they told me that they were dismissing me.

They explained they would give me 1 months pay. I did not question anything at the time due to being so ill (crohns+ibs+ifs+epilepsy(50-60 fits a day).

In my final pay the wage was not a full pay but half sick pay and i was not paid for the 6 days annual leave remaining and I understand that while on sick leave you are meant to gain annual leave but I received no additional pay for the 1.5 years annual leave gained while on sick pay.

I also understand that I should of received 1 months full pay upon leaving not the half pay sick pay?

I want to know if I am able to take them to court after 4 years or whether this is to late. I would have done it sooner but my health has now only just started to get better.

If I don't have a chance I wont go to court etc. I have tried contacting CAB in my town but they say will call or email me back but never do this has been for past 6 months so I am hoping someone on here might have been through the same thing or know whether I stand a chance on winning against them or losing.

Also if I do stand a chance how do I go about this as I no longer work for the company I can't arrange a tribunal.

The company is a large company and still very much around with her 800 stores around the world and 4 head offices.


Many Thanks in advance

xx

Guest101

1: you wouldn't go through a tribunal, as there is no issue of employment law. You were dismissed fairly.


2: You would claim via the county courts, as it's simply money owed. However i'm not sure it's actually owed.


3: What does your contract say, as it sounds like the statutory minimum may have been paid.

kirsty_demetriou

I wasn't aware i was going to be dismissed. I went to the meeting in hope they might arrange a Phased Return to work (starting at a couple of hours and gradually increasing) My contract stated full pay for 1 year and then half pay for any further time so I understand if I was only due the sick pay.

My worry is the annual leave my contract stated while on sick leave I would be entitled to Annual leave so I would work it out to 6 days not taken before sick leave 1.5 years annual leave while on sick so that plus the additional 6 days I would work it out to 52 days annual leave that I am entitled to?

I understand I can't take it to tribunal. would it be it be county court I have to take it to? They also never provided me with a p45 and they never told HMRC that I had left so I even through i've told HMRC because a p45 was never genenrated they still have the company as my employer but received nil payments a year.

elsien

You were off sick for 1.5 years, so why would you assume your last months pay would be full pay not half pay, as per your contract?
With regards to the annual leave, you may find that it accrues at the statutory minimum rate, rather than at your full contracted rate, so the 52 days may well be an overestimate. What did your contract say and how have you reached that figure? How do the days and your sickness tally with the company annual leave year?
What did your final payslip say?
I'm also not sure that annual leave can be carried over indefinitely - it may be that only a certain amount can be carried over while on long term sick leave (not up to speed on recent legislations) so that is something you also need to check.
You could try a letter before action but you need to be very clear about what you think you are owed and why, and at the moment I don't think you are owed as much as you believe.

Undervalued

kirsty_demetriou wrote: »

I understand I can't take it to tribunal. would it be it be county court I have to take it to? They also never provided me with a p45 and they never told HMRC that I had left so I even through i've told HMRC because a p45 was never genenrated they still have the company as my employer but received nil payments a year.

Yes, the small claims court (which is a division of the county court). You can do it using their moneyclaim online service. There are fees to pay, which you should be added to your award assuming you win, but do check very carefully that you had a hard and fast contractual entitlement to the money. You will need first to send a letter before action to your former employer, setting out what you are owed and giving them a short by reasonable amount of time in which to pay, failing which you will take legal action without further notice.

TELLIT01

As others have said, if you want to pursue this, the County Court small claims is the way to go. Companies often don't even respond to the court so there's a chance you would get judgement by default irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the case. What do you have to lose by trying?

agrinnall

As others have said, and you seem to accept, I don't think you'd be due full pay for your PILON, unless your contract says so. If you're able to confirm to yourself that the holiday pay was indeed due to you then the best thing to do is send a Letter Before Action giving them a period to pay (14 days would usually be the minimum) then if necessary use Money Claim Online to start the small claim as the fees are slightly lower.

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

Fees can be seen here

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/court-fees

TrickyDicky101

Consider also when your ex-employer's holiday year ran from/until (ie 1st Jan to 31st Dec or some other period) as you typically have to take the holiday or lose it (with no reimbursement). Hence, I don't think you will have 1.5 year's payable - it could be much (much) less.

paddedjohn

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

Consider also when your ex-employer's holiday year ran from/until (ie 1st Jan to 31st Dec or some other period) as you typically have to take the holiday or lose it (with no reimbursement). Hence, I don't think you will have 1.5 year's payable - it could be much (much) less.

Different if on the sick. It accrues until return to work or leaving but I think it's at a lower rate of 20 days per year rather than the stat min of 28 days due to it being Euro legislation rather than UK.

Tiddlywinks

Sometimes it's just more beneficial to let it go.

Is it REALLY worth the stress of going on with this?

Dwelling on something that happened four years ago is just taking you back to a period in your life that was difficult - wouldn't it be better for your health and wellbeing to just draw a line under this and move forward?

sangie595

Actually whether it is full pay due or not has nothing to do with what people think. It is very simple. You need to know what your statutory notice period is. If the contractual notice of one months is a week or more longer than the amount of statutory notice, then yes, you are due full pay. If it isn't, your aren't. Statutory notice is one week up to two years, and then a week extra per year. So if you worked there for three years or more, then full pay was due. If you didn't, it wasn't.