Employment tribunals

[wineonafridaynight]

Hello, I've posted about this before but I'm not at the next stage and would appreciate advice either from a legal professional or someone who has been through one.

Bit of background:
I resigned from my job and am taking my ex employers to a tribunal for constructive dismissal. I don't want to go into too much details online about it.

Today the letter came through from my solicitor saying the date had been set. It has been given a whole day at the tribunal. Firstly is this normal? I just read a booklet on the employment tribunal that said that usually a case will be allocated one hour so a whole day seems excessive!

Secondly I was told to expect it to take 6 months to get a date from when we submitted our claim. It is actually more like 4. is this normal as well?

Could someone also run me through what will happen on the day please or rather, what happens in a typical employment tribunal?

I am incredibly nervous about all of this. I feel like i've been to hell and back in the past 6 months and just opening and reading letters about the situation makes me feel ill. I'm just trying to prepare myself a bit better.

Also what percentage of these cases actually go to the tribunal or do some settle before hand?

ANy advice/support would be so greatly appreciated.

Thanks. :(

Not much help as may well be going through this myself soon - for exactly the same reason. I hope it works out for you though!

Why not ask your solicitor?

that's what I wondered

Well, she'll be charged if she asks her solicitor.

Only very straightforward cases or sessions in advance of hearings to deal with administrative matters are allocated an hour.

A constructive dismissal hearing involving several witnesses and a fair amount of evidence will take a day at least.

The day will involve both sides presenting evidence to a panel of 3, one employment judge and 2 'wing members' who are usually senior union officials etc.

You and any other witnesses will be cross examined by the other side, as well as asked questions by your own side and the panel too.

The Employment Tribunal website has more details and last time I looked had photos of a typical Tribunal hearing room.

Hearings are public and if there's a Tribunal centre near you, you can go along and see one in progress.

Your solicitor willno doubt go through it all with you closer to the time.

Most cases do settle. Your solicitor will tell you about that.

Finally, don't read anything into getting listed earlier, sometimes a big case gets settled and frees up lots of time.

I attended an Employment Tribunal to support a friend. It lasted 4 days. The staff were absolutely lovely. They were really keen to make things as welcoming as possible.

Definitely agree with going along beforehand if you can and briefly sitting in on a case.. It'll be one less thing to be nervous of come your day.