Employment tribunals & witness statements

dippy3103

Hello,

I am currently in the process of taking my employer to the ET. I need to start work on my statement - I am not represented. I have a number of emails and other documents I wish to exhibit.

Does it work like a criminal statement in as much each document is given an exhibit number in the bulk of the statement which is my initials & then a number?

If anyone can recommend any good books for LIP’s on the workings of the tribunal, I would love details.

I just want to at least present my case in a professional and clear way.. win or lose I want to give it my best shot!

debsue

I did this for my partner using a step by step book. cant remember the one I used but it was slimier to this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Employment-Tribunal-Claims-Tactics-Precedents/dp/1908407352/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513737018&sr=1-1&keywords=employment+tribunal

Be careful with UCAS, they told me that everything I told them was confidential, but then told the opposition

TogeatherStronger83

Hi,

The things to remember is that it should be in chronological order and all paragraphs numbered and then when referring to evidence (say an email that was submitted in the bundle) you would say something along the lines of, on 10th May 2017 I received an email from Roger (Senior Director) saying that he was very pleased with the work I submitted (Bundle Document No. 13 Pages 76-77).

I used a template that I found on google, I cant put the link on as I am a new user

Good Luck

dippy3103

TogeatherStronger83 wrote: »

Hi,

The things to remember is that it should be in chronological order and all paragraphs numbered and then when referring to evidence (say an email that was submitted in the bundle) you would say something along the lines of, on 10th May 2017 I received an email from Roger (Senior Director) saying that he was very pleased with the work I submitted (Bundle Document No. 13 Pages 76-77).

I used a template that I found on google, I cant put the link on as I am a new user

Good Luck

Thank you- so it’s a bundle document an exhibit?

Pricivius

Tribunal witness statements are different to criminal/civil statements. You do not exhibit documents.


Prior to exchanging witness statements, the parties should agree the bundle which will include all the documents the Tribunal will see during the Hearing. One party - usually the Respondent - will paginate the bundle and provide you with a copy.


Your witness statement should be in short numbered paragraphs setting out events in chronological order. Where you need to refer to a document, it should be "I sent an email to the HR Manager on 3 January 2016. A copy of the email is at pages 45 to 48 of the bundle." Or similar.


If the bundle is not yet agreed, draft your statement and leave gaps for the page numbers.

agrinnall

debsue wrote: »

Be careful with UCAS, they told me that everything I told them was confidential, but then told the opposition

Did you mean ACAS?

dippy3103

Pricivius wrote: »

Tribunal witness statements are different to criminal/civil statements. You do not exhibit documents.


Prior to exchanging witness statements, the parties should agree the bundle which will include all the documents the Tribunal will see during the Hearing. One party - usually the Respondent - will paginate the bundle and provide you with a copy.


Your witness statement should be in short numbered paragraphs setting out events in chronological order. Where you need to refer to a document, it should be "I sent an email to the HR Manager on 3 January 2016. A copy of the email is at pages 45 to 48 of the bundle." Or similar.


If the bundle is not yet agreed, draft your statement and leave gaps for the page numbers.

Thank you so much.

So an email thread is just added in once then the relevant part of it refered to by page number?

It’s a whole new world for me- used to dealing with criminal matters but civil is a whole new thing!

dippy3103

debsue wrote: »

I did this for my partner using a step by step book. cant remember the one I used but it was slimier to this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Employment-Tribunal-Claims-Tactics-Precedents/dp/1908407352/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513737018&sr=1-1&keywords=employment+tribunal

Be careful with UCAS, they told me that everything I told them was confidential, but then told the opposition

My employer won’t engage with ACAS at all which is a shame as I’d rather not have to resort to Tribunal. I emailed ACAS a summary of what went on and told the conciliator I was happy for the email to be shared with my employer. Going have to disclose everything relevant at some point anyway.

jobbingmusician

dippy3103 wrote: »

Thank you so much.

So an email thread is just added in once then the relevant part of it refered to by page number?

It’s a whole new world for me- used to dealing with criminal matters but civil is a whole new thing!

Find the thread I started on employment tribunals. It's quite out of date in some respects but will help you with issues like bundles and date-lines.

robatwork

jobbingmusician wrote: »

Find the thread I started on employment tribunals. It's quite out of date in some respects but will help you with issues like bundles and date-lines.

Just read through that thread about Tribunals. A lot of it refers to Mosdee and his/her tribunal claim. However it ends abruptly with no further postings. Do you know how that turned out?

Pricivius

dippy3103 wrote: »

So an email thread is just added in once then the relevant part of it refered to by page number?

It depends how the bundle is put together. An email chain could be put in as one document over several pages, or each email could be put on a separate page. The latter can make more sense if there are documents in the middle of the email chain so that everything in the bundle runs in chronological order, but sometimes it is not so easy to do.


In any event, everything should be in the bundle so you just take the Tribunal to the page you are referring to so they can read the document and see the evidence that is backing up your side of the story.