acas early conciliation

[bostonkremekrazy]

has anyone here used acas early conciliation?

my situation is that i have been dismissed from my workplace the reason given is unsuccessful completion of probation period - i believe the reason is that I requested mat leave. i have filed a grievance and am using acas early conciliation to say my workplace has discriminated against me and dismissed me unlawfully.

i have retained a lawyer and they say i have a good case due to the dates things happened on in relation to my requests for leave and the dates i gave in certificates etc...however in order to go to tribunal you have to first go through acas conciliation.

has acas been successful for anyone in making their (former) employer pay mat pay, and negotiating a settlement for loss of earnings etc? or is it likely that this will end up at tribunal?

thanks

[MummyBex1985]

I think the official statistics say that 15% of cases are settled using EC. In my experience, around 90% of cases settle before getting to a final hearing.

Without knowing the strength of your employers argument regarding probation, it's difficult to say whether you will get a settlement or not.

[bostonkremekrazy]

thanks mummybex

my lawyer thinks he has high probability to win the case as there was never any work issues raised during my probation.....i have it in writing that there are no work issues also - the also reason given was concern for my emotional wellbeing (stress) as i cried in work several times in the year probation.

my former workplace are seeking legal advice before deciding whether to go ahead with EC and will let ACAS know in 2 weeks...so more waiting for me.

in the meantime i have let the statutory disputes team know that my employers are not paying me and they will let the workplace know they must pay me or face being fined - they said ACAS do not get involved in mat pay disputes....so at least i should know next week if/when i should get some mat pay.

thanks for the stats - v helpful