Employment Tribunal

[EmploymentTribunal]

Has anyone been through the employment tribunal process?

I’m going through it myself for various forms of disability discrimination and unfair dismissal (due to my disability-related sickness absence). I had around 17/18 days of sickness absences over the course of my 3 years at my previous job. Most of these were related to my disabilities, which my former employer were aware of. Thankfully, I can prove this.

They also repeatedly refused to implement reasonable adjustments, which would have avoided my dismissal. They asserted multiple times that I had to be treated the same as every other employee.

We are approaching disclosure and the final hearing is scheduled for mid 2025.
I refused judicial mediation, but my employer has informed me that they are eager to settle. I think this is because they care so much about their reputation. If how they treated me became public, it would be damning for them. They would lose clients and money etc.

I fully intend on proceeding to the final hearing in hope that they learn their lesson and won’t subject their other employees to the same treatment. It has been awful.

Any advice or words of support is much appreciated.

Thank you.

Even after I told them I was not interested in judicial mediation, they contacted me asking for me to reconsider.

I told them my position hasn’t changed, but I’m certainly feeling the pressure now

Judicial mediation is completely different to acas conciliation.

If you get a decent offer, settle. And bear in mind that offers can still come in on the day of the tribunal! That happens often. Because, being blunt:
(a) Lots of "excellent" cases don't win. It's still a bit of a lottery no matter how good you think your case is
(b) The amount by which employers care about their reputation and employment tribunals is vastly overrated.
(c) Having your day is court is also vastly overrated.

That said - never propose a figure. Settlements are a game of chicken, and you should not ever be the one to blink first. Let them do the running.

You should try to settle if you can. As many others have said, there are no guarantees in court and many good cases don't succeed. You are also not legally represented- ime lay people tend to vastly overestimate the likelihood of success and the potential compensation.

As many have said too, bringing an ET claim also will damage your reputation. Future employers will see you as being a "troublemaker" (which may be entirely unfair but unfortunately that is often the case).

If you can settle you should do so. ACAS have a binding process and can assist as an intermediary

If you do settle (which is preferable) make sure it includes an agreed reference - normally there would be a compromise agreement covering both parties.

However any employer who regards agreed/recommended disability adjustments to be unfair because all employees should be treated the same is a lousy employer for both disabled and non disabled staff. None of us know what will hit us in the future and if I saw my employer disregarding adjustments for fellow staff on those grounds I would be looking for a better employer for my own future insurance.

I am midway through my third tribunal against the same employers. I won disability discrimination and victimisation claims against them in the first two, and didn't settle for the same reason as you: I wanted them to change.

They did not change.

I won a load of money, but they did not change.

Which is why I have eventually left and am now in the midst of a constructive dismissal claim.

I have been represented on all 3 by a solicitor paid through my insurance company so it has cost me nothing. It CANNOT be done easily without a solicitor, but it is possible. What is virtually impossible is doing it without a barrister. I could manage all the solicitor paperwork stuff if I had to, but cross-examining alone, no way.

I have lost faith in the tribunal system creating any real change.

Thank you. My former employer only cares for their reputation (and money) more than I’ve ever seen in an employer.

My treatment being in the public sphere will be a big blow for them, simply because of what the company does. (Think care home discriminating their employees due to age or a specialist SEN school harassing their employees due to their disabilities etc.)

I haven’t got a solicitor per se, but I have had appointments with an experienced employment solicitor from ELIPS who told me that my case is “very strong”. This is because of the indisputable evidence that I have and the fact that the respondent is not able to justify my treatment.

Thank you!

There are certain points in the process when you can leverage a better settlement. Before bundle exchange, before witness statements are compiled and just before the hearing. Each of these represent a step change in cost for the employer due to the time it takes (both legal and in-house).

I completely understand why you want to make this public, and they probably will hate it, but it will still be a nine day wonder. They will have lines to trot out to explain “mistakes” or “misunderstandings” or a rogue employee. And talk about learning and improving processes. You have to live with it forever. A settlement agreement is almost always better for the claimant, IF the offer is reasonable.

Not a mental health charity employer by any chance ?

I'm not sure you'll get them to change by having your day in court. You still have to deal with the trauma once it is all over and there is no guarantee you will win. I'd take a settlement on your terms.

I feel for you, I was so badly bullied and discriminated against by my former employer I attempted suicide. I wish I had it in me to take them to tribunal but they broke me. Nearly 5 years on and I'm still struggling.

I'm hopping on for advice as I'm in a similar position. (Hope that’s okay!). I’m representing myself at ET after being quite horribly removed (I believe) for whistleblowing. I worked as a freelancer, but had an 8-year relationship with the companies (2 respondents), including 3 years of regular weekly hours.
After the Case Management Hearing (which I found extremely stressful), both respondents remain in the case and have now agreed to Judicial Mediation. R2 has explicitly mentioned being open to settlement. R1 needs to deliver the first bundle next week. I've paid for occasional legal advice, and was told to wait for them to make the first offer. I expected something after them expressing wanting to enter into JM and R2 said they would settle. But that was over 2 weeks ago and so far there has been nothing. They have sent my schedule of loss.

Is waiting this out a good strategy?

Should I contact ACAS to express willingness to settle? I liked the advice from from @user8762456 to tell ACAS I would settle for the figure in my schedule of loss - but is that in some way a sign of weakness?

What actually happens in JM?

I'm concerned about facing two legal teams alone. These are both pretty big companies.

I thought I should get advice imminently as @OvertiredandConfused mentioned the period before bundle exchange is good timing for settlement talks. R1 has been asked to deliver a bundle on March 14th. The hearing is set for 6 days in late October.

My advice lawyer is away and I have no idea what to do. I had expected a settlement offer sooner.

I'd greatly appreciate any guidance as I'd prefer to settle rather than proceed to a full hearing. It has been so stressful and so much work. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I also just want a bit of justice in the form of a settlement and then to move on with my life.

Very interested to hear your takes: @C8H10N4O2 @user8762456 @user243245346 @OvertiredandConfused and in fact anyone who has something to add:)

If it’s related to whistleblowing, have you been in touch with Protect, the whistleblowing charity? They have an advice line.

Oh thank you. I didn't know about them. I'll give them a call in the morning. To be honest, I do want this over with – but part of me feels like I should take it further - but not on my own, unless I have to,

Public sector employers always employ barristers and a final hearing can be tough and lengthy. To for a settlement of its satisfactory.

She refused judicial mediation which is something entirely different. It not "past" ACAS involvement at all.

This

OP did you get any advice on your schedule of loss and are you confident it is realistic?

You shouldn't underestimate how difficult the hearing may be. Is it listed for several days? I don't want to put you off, and it is admirable that you want to see justice served. But it can be very stressful and difficult.

If they make a serious offer you should give it proper consideration. Certainly do use ACAS during settlement negotiations, they can offer support with that right up to the hearing.

Thank you. Advice is noted. I can assure you I won’t be the first to blink. I’m fully prepared to take this all the way anyway.

We have been listed for DRA a few weeks before the final hearing, so I’ll see how that goes. I’ll keep you all posted.

Great post from @EmmaMaria. I would add to it that expecting employers to “learn their lesson” by being on a tribunal is generally misguided. They either largely already have (even if they won’t tell you). Or they continue to think their actions are fine and a tribunal finding is unlikely to change that.

Hello, just wondering how you got on? I have me Prelim Hearing next month so keep to get a feel for others experiences

Government funded

I’d really not over rely on how much clients will care and how much publicity you will get, I think you will find most clients don’t care as they should.

make them an offer, but make it high bit realistic. Don’t be ridiculous

a close family member had a client they decided to settle with, he asked for a million bucks, they offered him 3 months, he declined, went to tribunal snd basically got 3 months.

a good lawyer will be advising you on what they think you can achieve at tribunal realistically and as said, don’t fall into the trap of thinking you will get loads of publicity and they will pay big bucks to avoid it. Even if you do a daily mail sad face, they are prob wanting to settle so they don’t need to do it anymore.

My treatment being in the public sphere will be a big blow for them, simply because of what the company does. (Think care home discriminating their employees due to age or a specialist SEN school harassing their employees due to their disabilities etc.)

I don't mean to minimize what you've been though (It's clearly had a significant impact and I admire your determination to seek justice), but to be frank, unless your treatment was so egregious as to be borderline criminal, or the first domino to fall in some kind of national scandal in your industry that impacts the general public, the media will likely not care. If there's no pressure from the media/general public, the blow unlikely to be as severe as you might think.

Even if your former employers do catch a bit of flack, they'll have already prepared for the worst. They'll chuck someone under the bus, or paint the whole process as a welcome learning experience and spin it into a positive message about how progressive they've become. At worst they'll go on the attack, say they completely disagree with the outcome, that the tribunal got it wrong...and people may even agree with them.

It might be a bad luck to them, but will it stop them all from going to work the next day? If the answer is no then they'll get past it.

An anti-animal cruelty charity sacked a man for exposing that their pension funds were invested in a company that carried out animal testing, after he objected to it on the grounds of being an ethical vegan.

Your former employer won't learn a lesson by losing a tribunal - if they were that concerned about the potential reputational damage, they wouldn't have sacked you in the first place.

I understand that you feel you have a good case, but as others have said, good cases lose all the time, for a myriad of reasons. Have you considered how you'll feel if that comes to pass? If the employer is found to have acted properly on the evidence, they're vindicated privately and publicly. If you lose on a technically, or because you're unable to compete with their legal team, that'll surely feel even worse and the unfairness of it will gnaw at you for some time.

At least with a settlement you'll have something to show for the process.

I knew that in terms of insurance and how they push for settlements, however, surely they cannot pressure the claimant in any way to come to the table, so to speak?

Not directly. A good brief may indeed advise you that you have a strong case, but they will almost certainly advise you to accept a reasonable offer if one is presented. That's where the pressure is. At some point, even if it's on the day, the employer's insurance will almost always authorize a settlement comparable to what you'd likely be awarded by the tribunal.

That's the reason 85-90% of claims are resolved without a final hearing - claims that get that far are unlikely to be black and white. That's reflected by the fact that it's almost a coin toss success rate for those 10-15% of cases that are actually heard (current figures show a 42% success rate). It's unlikely to be worth the risk for either party, moral issues aside. FYI, discrimination cases have

Continued

...the second lowest success rate at just 16%. Unfair dismissal is the next lowest.

Statistically speaking, the other party knows that your claims have a lower chance of success. They know that any legal advice you're taking is likely to emphasize that and encourage going down the settlement route.

So it's an indirect pressure.

I made a formal complaint for bullying and disability discrimination in my last job.

My manager was refusing to put in place reasonable adjustments and I was being excluded from meetings, criticised unfairly and treated differently from the rest of the team.

I took the initiative to suggest a financial settlement and I made it clear I would take them to an employment tribunal over wise.

They agreed to a settlement and we used ACAS.

Be aware that employment tribunals have a huge backlog of claims and it could take up to 2 years to have your 'day in court'. I did not want that hanging over me for so long and the stress of going to tribunal, so this is why I was keen to have a settlement instead and agree on the content of a reference so I could just move on.

Why does this thread keep popping up on active? OP hasn’t come back since March!