Employment Tribunal Counter Claims
LoveSavingMoney_2
Posts: 12 Forumite
I was hired by a lady who failed to pay me and then sacked me under my notice period without reason. I found out too late that she had a history of Employment Tribunals against her for doing the same thing, hiring staff she had no means of paying, taking their work and then making them fight for their money. I won my tribunal against the company, but they have never paid it and I am now proceeding with a CCJ. In the meantime, they have a winding-up petition against them from another debtor as well as numerous other ongoing employment tribunals which they will likely lose.
She has however put in a counterclaim against me for breach of contract, claiming that I deleted email data and cost them big contracts by defaming them to potential customers. She has never presented any evidence of either supposed action, probably because they never happened, but I now face a Full Merits Hearing from the Tribunal judge in December.
Am I right to be worried? I've spoken to a solicitor who said it's a waste of the courts time, but there's a nagging feeling given I have everything to lose (house, car) and nothing to gain.
She has however put in a counterclaim against me for breach of contract, claiming that I deleted email data and cost them big contracts by defaming them to potential customers. She has never presented any evidence of either supposed action, probably because they never happened, but I now face a Full Merits Hearing from the Tribunal judge in December.
Am I right to be worried? I've spoken to a solicitor who said it's a waste of the courts time, but there's a nagging feeling given I have everything to lose (house, car) and nothing to gain.
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Comments
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LoveSavingMoney wrote: »I was hired by a lady who failed to pay me and then sacked me under my notice period without reason. I found out too late that she had a history of Employment Tribunals against her for doing the same thing, hiring staff she had no means of paying, taking their work and then making them fight for their money. I won my tribunal against the company, but they have never paid it and I am now proceeding with a CCJ. In the meantime, they have a winding-up petition against them from another debtor as well as numerous other ongoing employment tribunals which they will likely lose.
She has however put in a counterclaim against me for breach of contract, claiming that I deleted email data and cost them big contracts by defaming them to potential customers. She has never presented any evidence of either supposed action, probably because they never happened, but I now face a Full Merits Hearing from the Tribunal judge in December.
Am I right to be worried? I've spoken to a solicitor who said it's a waste of the courts time, but there's a nagging feeling given I have everything to lose (house, car) and nothing to gain.
Whilst I’m sure you’ll be fine; you really should’ve gone the small claims route.0 -
My understanding was that you need to first prove the money is owed before you can do that, particularly in respect of unfair deduction to wages. Equally, it requires you to pay a large fee upfront with no guarantee of getting the money versus a company who has none in the first place.
Citizens Advice (on top of other parties, including those who had successfully taken her to court) told me I had to go the ACAS route with early conciliation before I could do anything about enforcing the money owed.
I was led to believe it was Conciliation > Tribunal > CCJ > Winding Up Petition.0 -
I'm afraid that without knowing what evidence she had, nobody can really tell you whether she's got a case or not. That's why there is a merits hearing. To decide if her claim has merit.0
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LoveSavingMoney wrote: »My understanding was that you need to first prove the money is owed before you can do that, particularly in respect of unfair deduction to wages. Equally, it requires you to pay a large fee upfront with no guarantee of getting the money versus a company who has none in the first place.
Citizens Advice (on top of other parties, including those who had successfully taken her to court) told me I had to go the ACAS route with early conciliation before I could do anything about enforcing the money owed.
I was led to believe it was Conciliation > Tribunal > CCJ > Winding Up Petition.
Your understanding is wrong. The fee is quite small and based upon the value of your claim.
The tribunal offers no guarantee either.0 -
Not saying you're wrong, but I've just followed the advice I was given by Citizen's Advice, which is echoed on their website. There's no mention of small claims court.
Equally, £455 when you've just been stung for £7,500 and find yourself unemployed overnight isn't exactly a 'small sum' to find.0 -
The circumstances in which an employer can bring a counterclaim in employment tribunal are extremely limited ... see http://etclaims.co.uk/2012/02/when-can-an-employer-make-a-counterclaim/.
Once you would get a CCJ I would just proceed to enforce that. I wouldn't spend too much money pursuing this though if the Defendant owes lots of other debts and is likely to be declared insolvent.
Turn up to hearings and comply with the Tribunal's processes but otherwise it sounds like you shouldn't worry too much. These sorts of time wasting people usually go down very poorly with judges.0 -
That link makes for interesting reading as my claim was for "unfair deduction of wages", not breach of contract, so it seems odd that the judge has accepted the counterclaim.0
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It is very possible that the counterclaim will get thrown out at the hearing in short order.
Just make sure you turn up to the hearing and have complied with any procedural orders that might be made by the Tribunal.0 -
I have done and will continue to do so.
Not entirely sure what the need is for a full merit hearing if the employer has no rights to raise any such case. Bizarre.0 -
No. It's necessary. They cannot simply throw or a case without due process. What kind of country would we live in where courts simply decide they won't hear cases with a reason and without transparency.LoveSavingMoney wrote: »I have done and will continue to do so.
Not entirely sure what the need is for a full merit hearing if the employer has no rights to raise any such case. Bizarre.0
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