Being told by employer you need to go to court

k3lvc

This is like pulling teeth so one last chance

You were driving on company business in a company vehicle and had an accident. Following this the company has been asked to appear at court (presumably being prosecuted rather than as a witness against the other driver) and is requiring you to appear as a key witness on their behalf.

I'm struggling to see why you wouldn't attend - do you fear prosecution/incriminating yourself ? Did you think you'd got away with it not going to court ?

In summary your employer can't legally force you to appear as a witness but I'd expect an interesting disciplinary discussion if you chose to disobey a reasonable order (and without knowing the details we don't know whether this is reasonable)

Should the court require you to attend that's a whole different ballgame and if you decide to ignore them then you should be waiting for a fairly swift knock on the door

AquaGirl

I'm sorry but the why's and why nots of attending are actually not really the question - so in that sense i suppose you're right, it's like pulling teeth (keeping on topic).

Obviously the court can make me go and if i don't then i'm in big trouble. No brainer.
Question is though whether my employer can make me attend if the court hasn't summoned me and what can happen if i don't attend. Can they discipline me if the court hasn't summoned me?

That isn't to retaliate with well why don't you want to attend, it's to simple answer the question and not drift off - can they make me & what happens if i don't attend because the why's and why nots of me not attending are irrelevant as far as what they can and can't do are concerned. Is it a written warning offence? A final warning offence? A sackable offence?

At this moment in time as i'm sure you'll agree it's all guesswork. I've only been told that i'll "be required to attend court". Required by who?
So on that note is it perfectly reasonable for me to request to see any paperwork from the court which requests my attendance? Or is it unreasonable to request to see this?


For the record i have personal reasons as to why i don't wish to attend UNLESS i have to which if i go in to on here will most certainly identify myself and quite frankly i'm not going to do that just to satisfy someones curiosity as to what the personal reasons may be. I know that isn't what you want to hear but seriously i am not going to clearly identify myself on a forum i know management are on - and yes, the reason will identify me very clearly.

gettingtheresometime

Presumably there is an argument between the 3rd party & your company/your company's insurers that hasn't been settled so it's going to court.

Now for whatever reason you have you don't want to attend.

Presumably this means that this will aid the 3rd party's case.

Unless you can explain to your employer why you don't want to attend, I think I'd start looking for another job because life is going to get bumpy for you.

But it's strange that your employer is getting involved if it wasn't on a work day, was not in a work's vehicle.

k3lvc

In which case a broad answer to a broad question - assuming the incident happened in work time when you were at work then no, they can't physically make you attend but they can require you to attend and treat it as disobeying a direct and reasonable order if you don't. At that point and during any following disciplinary process you'd have to defend why you couldn't/wouldn't attend.

Only you know the issues and the relationship with employer - I suspect it's not the most positive relationship and if I were you I'd be looking for a new employer - obviously taking into consideration whether they could choose to throw you under the bus (no pun intended if the original accident involved a bus) and leave you at the mercy of the court

theoretica

What sort of court case? A financial case of your employer vs the other driver (and various insurance companies) or is it officialdom and traffic violations?

AquaGirl

Sorry I know this won’t answer everything since my last post but I’m about to leave for work. I just noticed through your replies that I hadn’t specified something important - yes this happened in a works vehicle in work time. I must’ve just assumed that by posting in the employment forum that it’d cover that so that’s my fault sorry. I’ll cover everything else that I can later.

BrassicWoman

Have a conversation outlining that you will be telling the truth and they will probably stop asking.

TELLIT01

OK. Sticking to the question of can you employer force you to appear in court. The answer is definitely 'No.' They have no direct legal power over you. However, as you have suggested yourself, the legal system can order you to appear and that can potentially be initiated by the legal team working for the employer.
Depending on how long you have worked for the employer they could simply terminate your employment if you refuse to attend.
If you do attend, do not exaggerate or embellish what happened, or the circumstances around the incident. You will be giving evidence under oath and lying is an extremely serious offence.

gettingtheresometime

AquaGirl wrote: »

Say the incident happened on a non-work day with a non-work vehicle then yes i can see how you may be required in court. I didn't know if it involving work vehicles and work time changed anything & whether the employee or employer would be required in court.
.

AquaGirl wrote: »

Sorry I know this won’t answer everything since my last post but I’m about to leave for work. I just noticed through your replies that I hadn’t specified something important - yes this happened in a works vehicle in work time. I must’ve just assumed that by posting in the employment forum that it’d cover that so that’s my fault sorry. I’ll cover everything else that I can later.

Well those are 2 totally different situations so yes I can see why your employer wants you to attend any court hearing.

But to answer your question no the employer can't make you go to court but if you didn't I'd expect you to face a case of gross misconduct.

nicechap

AquaGirl wrote: »

Sorry I know this won’t answer everything since my last post but I’m about to leave for work. I just noticed through your replies that I hadn’t specified something important - yes this happened in a works vehicle in work time. I must’ve just assumed that by posting in the employment forum that it’d cover that so that’s my fault sorry. I’ll cover everything else that I can later.

As others have said above, you can refuse to attend court if you so wish. Your employer can then take action under their disciplinary processes for failing to carry out a reasonable instruction. If the employer suffers a loss as a result of the case, and believe your refusal to attend was a major factor in that loss, they can take that into account, which leaves you open to charges of gross misconduct and dismissal.

What your employer should not do is pressurise you to lie, especially to a court and you may want to consider recording such pressure in a grievance so if worst comes to worst you have something to point to.