Witness Help For An Employment Tribunal

dj9911

The time has come for me to start preparing witness statements. I should have started it a bit earlier but I’ve been preoccupied with trying to get full disclosure from the respondent.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5917894

I’m reasonably confident in what I have to do in regard to my statement with layout, content etc. But I’m struggling with the three witnesses I’d like to use. The majority of my problems are to do with the practicalities or procedures involved. Two of the witnesses still work for the company and the third has left and I only know two by first names. This obviously presents some problems. My main areas of concern are;

1. How do I contact them? I was thinking of writing to my former employer and asking them to forward on a request that I would like them to be a witness. A short letter with a contact email address. I’m assuming that I can’t ask for their contact details under data protection rules? Am I also correct in thinking that I don’t have to inform the respondents lawyers what I am doing?
2. What do I do if they don’t respond? Given my ongoing troubles with disclosure I suspect my request will just be ignored. If that happens I was thinking of saying in the initial contact that if I don’t hear anything in 7 days (normally I would say 14 but time is short) that I will apply to the court for a witness order for each. The court needs the name and address for the witness order how do I deal with that?
3. If I do get in contact do I send them a letter/email with my questions and an example of a witness statement to help them? I’m assuming I don’t have to physically meet with them? If I get a statement and they come to the trial. Can I ask them questions at the trial which I haven’t asked them in my initial request? Or is it limited to what’s in their statement?

Each of the three witnesses also present some problems which I need help with.

Witness One
They still work for the company (as far as I know). I only want to ask them one question. It’s not about my unfair dismissal. My claim is under H&S. The question is about a H&S incident which the respondent is denying happened. Is it okay to ask that? I’m not sure if they would be a willing witness.

Witness Two
This person no longer works for the company. They know what happened. I would like to think that if I could contact them directly they would willingly give a statement.

Witness Three
This person was my direct manager and is the cause of the problems and case. You would have thought they would have been the most important witness from the respondents point of view. But they weren’t on the list of witnesses in the CMD agenda. While it might seem like a strange witness from my point of view. I’m think they aren’t on their list of witnesses for the reason I want them to be a witness. Their personality type would make them a disaster on the witness stand. It won’t take much for the person to become angry, flustered and there mouth to run away from them and end up telling the truth. Everything in my ET1 is true. The respondents only defence has been to completely lie about what happened. If somebody tells the truth of what happened I’ll win.

I’ve read a lot that a reluctant witness is a bad idea 99% of the time. But I do think witness three is the 1%. Witness two if I could contact on my own somehow. I would like to think would make a statement willingly. They knew the way witness three operated wasn’t legal, fair or right and they weren’t shy about making their feelings known. Witness one would be nice to have but it’s not a major issue if I can’t get a statement.

Surely struggling to get contact details of a witness as I am, must be a common problem. But I couldn’t find any details on the web about it. Can anybody can help or point me in the right direct with the above?

Savvy_Sue

dj9911 wrote: »

Witness One They still work for the company (as far as I know). I only want to ask them one question. It’s not about my unfair dismissal. My claim is under H&S. The question is about a H&S incident which the respondent is denying happened. Is it okay to ask that? I’m not sure if they would be a willing witness.

Ask yourself this: how likely is it that a witness still working for the company (and presumably hoping to remain working there) will give an answer which reflects badly on the employer?

dj9911 wrote: »

Witness Two
This person no longer works for the company. They know what happened. I would like to think that if I could contact them directly they would willingly give a statement.

They might give a statement, but they might not be willing to attend a tribunal hearing. Certainly if they are now working elsewhere, their employer might not be willing to release them to attend. I'm afraid I don't know if your previous employer is required to pass on their contact details: I'd have said there was a confidentiality issue there.

dj9911 wrote: »

Witness Three
This person was my direct manager and is the cause of the problems and case. You would have thought they would have been the most important witness from the respondents point of view. But they weren’t on the list of witnesses in the CMD agenda. While it might seem like a strange witness from my point of view. I’m think they aren’t on their list of witnesses for the reason I want them to be a witness. Their personality type would make them a disaster on the witness stand. It won’t take much for the person to become angry, flustered and there mouth to run away from them and end up telling the truth. Everything in my ET1 is true. The respondents only defence has been to completely lie about what happened. If somebody tells the truth of what happened I’ll win.

Not necessarily. Remember, the employer is likely to have legal representation, someone who knows how these things work. "Notwithstanding what this witness has just said, my client's case is that X did not happen as claimed, and that there is sufficient confusion about the incident to find in my client's favour."

dj9911 wrote: »

I’ve read a lot that a reluctant witness is a bad idea 99% of the time. But I do think witness three is the 1%. Witness two if I could contact on my own somehow. I would like to think would make a statement willingly. They knew the way witness three operated wasn’t legal, fair or right and they weren’t shy about making their feelings known. Witness one would be nice to have but it’s not a major issue if I can’t get a statement.

Honestly, I don't know. it may not be as easy to establish that your version is the truth as you think.

robatwork

Sounds like you would need Witness Orders to compel these people to appear. So they will start any proceedings hating you.

You don't know their name so wouldn't be able to apply for the above in any case.

Ask your solicitor how to organise this, but sounds like a very unpromising case.

A willing witness is worth his/her weight in gold. Try to get one of these instead.

dj9911

I was afraid I would run into this problem. Who knows the full names and addressees of their work colleagues?

I know there is no other way to do the witness system but it does put you at a distinct disadvantage. The employer will always have the upper hand if the employee you want as a witness still works there.

lincroft1710

Which is one of the reasons why there is such a poor chance of winning an unfair dismissal case at tribunal