Being told by employer you need to go to court

username901

If you don't go I'd start updating my CV and be prepared to explain to future employers why I'd declined a reasonable request to help my old employer.

Good luck.

Manxman_in_exile

Everybody seems to be assuming this is a civil case (eg insurance claim etc) but you haven't said.


It's not a criminal offence is it, like dangerous or careless driving?


Have you made any sort of written statement?


Assuming it's a civil matter and your employer is the claimant, I think you'd be daft not to appear as a witness if they want you to do so. They, as your employer, may not be able to make you attend, but I'm sure there may be consequences if you don't. (eg if it's some sort of insurance claim by or against your employer, it's probably a condition that the employer cooperates in any legal proceedings - see steampowered's post above. They won't be happy if you don't cooperate!).


If it happens to be a criminal case, you'll have to attend if summonsed.


Whatever happens (appear in court or written statement etc) don't lie - just tell the facts.


I'm sure being a witness in court is a stressful experience - but all you have to do is answer the questions put to you. I don't know what your personal reasons are for not wanting to give evidence, but they'd have to be compelling.


Of course, if your employer is pressing you to "bend" the truth, that's a slightly different matter...


(How did you come to have a telecon with the third party's solicitor? I'd have expected the insurers to deal with all communications).

bigisi

username901 wrote: »

If you don't go I'd start updating my CV and be prepared to explain to future employers why I'd declined a reasonable request to help my old employer.

Good luck.

Why are you going to update your CV if the OP doesn't go to court?

TELLIT01

username901 wrote: »

If you don't go I'd start updating my CV and be prepared to explain to future employers why I'd declined a reasonable request to help my old employer.

Good luck.

Attending court may be a reasonable request. Telling an employee to exaggerate or lie isn't. I would certainly be prepared to explain that part to a potential future employer.

TBagpuss

OK, as you were in a company vehicle on company time it is entirely reasonable for the company to expect you to go to court to give evidnce if their lewyers advise them that it would assist the case.

It sounds as though you were honest in speaking to the lawyer so any atatement they draw up should be accurate.

If you were to refuse to attend then they would be well within their rights to treat that as a disciplinary matter and act accordingly.

Depnding on why you don't want to go, it may be helpful for you to raise your concerns. Going to court is stressful but (dpending on whether it is a civil or crimnal case) witness support may be available, and you can normally arrange to visit the court ahead of time so you know what to expect.

If you are concerned abotu retaliation if you don't exagerate to allow others to 'milk' the situation, then it would be sensible for you to raise this with HR- kee[p it very factual.

e.g. "I felt under pressure. I was told that I should say xxxx in my statement even though I had made clear that what I witnessed / esperienced was zzzz. [name's] comments / attitude left me fearful that I would be punished or face retaliation if I did not agree to change my statement"

AquaGirl

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

Now for whatever reason you have you don't want to attend.
Presumably this means that this will aid the 3rd party's case.

I'm baffled as to how. They ignore the signs on the road and cause an incident, how can anything aid them?
.[/QUOTE]

k3lvc wrote: »

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.

Thank you. What sort of disciplinary offence may this warrant? Is it sackable or are we looking at some kind of written?

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

In the process of this

theoretica wrote: »

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?

I genuinely don't know.

TELLIT01 wrote: »

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 i legally have to attend (as in the court are summoning me) then i have no issue with this and i will attend.

What i want to know is how strong is this calling for me. Is it a don't have a choice (court are asking) or just that my employer would prefer it. How could i find out? Do i have a right to see some kind of paperwork?

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.

I wont be (exaggerating).

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

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.

So essentially we get in to a - go to court or you're sacked scenario?

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

It's not a criminal offence is it, like dangerous or careless driving?

I don't know what it's being classed as but they ignored the signs of the road. Without wanting to identify things too much let's say they were in a situation where their lane markings were to turn right, mine were to turn left and then at the last second they turned left and tried to get in front of me and i hit them.

Have you made any sort of written statement?

To my employer, yes.

(How did you come to have a telecon with the third party's solicitor? I'd have expected the insurers to deal with all communications).

My employer (or HR) told me of my need to attend court.

TELLIT01

Until we have a full understanding of the basis for your employer stating you have to attend court all answers are nothing more than guesswork. Whether failure to attend at the employers request would end in a warning or dismissal is not something which can be answered here either.
It's possible I have missed it in the thread, but what is the objection to attending court?

Manxman_in_exile

AquaGirl wrote: »

I'm baffled as to how. They ignore the signs on the road and cause an incident, how can anything aid them?
.
...

My employer (or HR) told me of my need to attend court.

Sorry, but I'm a bit confused.


Presumably (we are light on detail) you were driving your employer's vehicle, somebody (the third party) cut you up, and there was a collision. Again presumably, either your employer is suing the third party, or the third party is suing your employer. (Insurers may be involved, but that's irrelevant for now).


If it can't be settled by agreement, it will probably go to court. In the absence of any other evidence (eg dashcam, other witnesses) you will be required to give evidence as to what happened as you will be the only person who can give evidence on behalf of your employer The court can only make a decision based on eye-witness evidence put before it. And that evidence will come from you.


Can you see why your employer might have to rely upon you appearing as a witness either to win their claim or to defend the third party's claim? (Sorry if I'm being patronising, but you don't seem to appreciate why you may need to appear as a witness).


If the circumstances of the collision are as cut and dried as you suggest, I don't understand why your employer would be trying to get you to "milk" the case and, to be honest, I don't understand your reluctance to appear in court.


I think you've misunderstood my earlier question as to how you came to be in contact with the third party's solicitor - you said in the OP that they had called you. I would have thought it highly irregular for a solicitor to be talking to a witness for the other side. If insurers are involved all communication should go through them, and if not I would have thought you should only be communicating with them through your employer's solicitor.


I know all this may seem irrelevant to your original question, but it all seems to me to have the potential to become a real mess which will not endear you to your employer if it all goes wrong.


I don't understand your reasons for not wanting to be a witness, but if I were you they'd have to be pretty good ones for me not to appear if my employer asked me to. [Edit: especially if I'm my employer's only witness - but you haven't said if you are or not.] Irrespective of what they can lawfully do, I'd be expecting to lose my job.


But it's up to you.

TBagpuss

OK, given the extra information, it's very clear why your employer will want you to go to court.

On the face of it, the issue is whether the other driver changed lanes without signaling or checking that it was clear, (which is what you are saying) r whether they changed lanes after givng the appropriate signals and checking it was clear, and you hit them becuase you were going to fast / changing lanes yourself / whatever which presumably would be what the other driver must be allegin, if the case is being contested.

The court won't force you to go, they don't ce if your employer or their insurers lose the cae becuase they can't get their witness there. Your employer can apply for a witness summons (sometims this is neded where, for instnace, a witness is willing to help out but needs something formal to say they have to go, in order to b able to get time off work)

If you have a disabilty or other good reason why attending would be a problem,, tell your wmploye(or their lawyer) as they may be abl to accommodate it.

Otherwise, refusing to go is likely to go down extremely badly. It is dificult to think of a valid reason for refusing.

(I haveto say, the most obvious reason I can think of for somone in your position being unwilling to go to court would be if they had not ben honest in how they iriginally reported the accident to the employer, and were then unwilling to risk perjuring themself by lying in court. Obviously you may have a different reason, but your employer may start to think that is the reason, if you don't give them an explanation.

Of coruse, if there was someone else in the vehicle with you then that's less likely, but if not, it is seonthingthey may start to question if you say that you won't go, and don't explain what your reason for not wanting to go is. .

Manxman_in_exile

TBagpuss wrote: »

...

(I haveto say, the most obvious reason I can think of for somone in your position being unwilling to go to court would be if they had not ben honest in how they iriginally reported the accident to the employer, and were then unwilling to risk perjuring themself by lying in court. Obviously you may have a different reason, but your employer may start to think that is the reason, if you don't give them an explanation.

Of coruse, if there was someone else in the vehicle with you then that's less likely, but if not, it is seonthingthey may start to question if you say that you won't go, and don't explain what your reason for not wanting to go is. .

Hadn't thought of that. But it's less fanciful than what I was imagining...


If the OP has a difficult relationship with their employer now, I can't see it improving.