Employment Tribunals - any one been through one?

[beckyg71]

I have an Employment Tribunal coming up soon and have just had documentation from the Tribunal Office giving me 14 days to request any paperwork from my ex-employer. What sort of things should I be requesting from them? I know the obvious stuff such as copy of contract, past appraisals etc but is there other stuff I should request. I understand that only the stuff brought to th tribunal is admissable and I can't rely on anything that isn't in the documentation so I want to be sure I ask them for just about everything. Also can I ask them for paperwork relating to another employee? I also want to call witnesses who still work at the company. I know they won't attend willingly but do I still have to ask them myself first or can I ask work to approach them or can I just ask the Employment Tribunal to issue a Witness Order. I also want to ask an ex-employee to attend as a witness but do not have her correct e-mail or phone number - can I request that my ex-employer provide me with this information? If anyone out there has been through a tribunal and knows the answer to this or if you have been through a tribunal and thought afterwards 'I should have asked them for copies of their documentation on such and such' it would be much appreciated. I can't afford a solicitor and I know I've only got the one chance on this so wan't to be as prepared as I can possibly be.

HELP!!!

I haven't been through a tribunal, but went to a pre-hearing. I had a solicitor who got a whole bunch of paperwork from them.

You absolutely need to get everything you can from your ex-employer.

Flowerybeanbag should be able to help you.....

Well how did the grievance process go with your employer, and what documents etc did you refer to then? And what documents did your employer refer to?

You can get advice from ACAS on 08457 474747. They will almost certainly advise you to retain a solicitor, but they will still be able to get some pointers.

I do have stacks of paperwork from the grievance procedure but my problem here is that they keep changing their minds about what has or hasn't happened. In the last letter I received from them they effectively said my position had been made redundant which is the firt I had heard about it - they were trying to get me to return to a different role but at no point during the grievance procedure said it was due to my role having been made redundant! I guess I should ask for the entire contents of my personnel file just to be on the safe side! Thanks for your advice.

becky have you checked your house insurance? Often legal advice for things like this is covered on there. I would strongly recommend using a solicitor if you possibly can.

First starting point as LadyMuck says is any documentation you used and/or requested as part of the grievance process, or the disciplinary process if you are claiming unfair dismissal.

If you want everything you can make what's called a subject access request under the Data Protection Act, which means they must supply you with all information about you held there, electronically or on paper, but they don't have to respond to that within such a short time frame, so a specific request for the documentation you actually need would be better.

It's difficult to give an opinion on what documentation you need without knowing what you are claiming, as it will depend on that. You need documents that will either support your case or help you understand/challenge your employer's case. Don't know what that would include.

Your employer won't be able to give you out private contact details for ex-employees I'm afraid. I'm not sure off the top of my head about whether you can compel witnesses to attend I'm afraid.

I do have home insurance but the insurance provider is also my ex-employer! I am claiming constructive dismissal and discrimination. It all relates to stuff that happened whilst I was on maternity leave which is basically that they failed to keep me informed of any cahnges to the department, that they gave the girl covering my mat leave my job and then tried to get me to return to a differnet role which I think was unsuitable. They also seconded my colleague (only other one in dept on same level as me) into a newly created Team Leader role without advising me they had created the role, asking me if I wanted to apply etc. It was all done around the time I had originally verbally indicated I was going to return but my manager didn't respond to my messages or get back to me until some weeks later and didn't arrange a meeting with me to discuss my return until after the date I had verbally indicated I was going to return. My problem with them comes with the fact that they have admitted they communicated poorly with me and they did finally relent and agree I could return to my old job but with 'changes' but they didn't clarify what the changes would be, they did also back down on their original assertion that I could only return on full time office based hours and di offer me slightly reduced hours. All of this was going on from Feb last year until August and I was forced to raise a grievance against my new manager (never worked for him - he started a month after I went on mat leave) in order for them to recognise my right to return to my old job if 'reasonably practicable', to consider anything other than full time office based hours etc. In meetings I had with my new manager before I rasied the grievance I found him to be aggressive and intimidating when I challenged why certain things had or hadn't been done and he refused point blank to give me a response on the part time hours issue. By the time I raised the grievance our relationship was in tatters and I certainly had no trust or confidence in him. I knew that if I didn't raise the grievance he wouldn't relent on any issues and if I did that I was putting myself out of a job becuase there would be no way I could then return to work for him. So to cut a long story short we have been through the grievance process and we can't agree and I can't return to work for such a company or manager. I felt from the start that they didn't need me to return as they had already taken on 2 additional employees since I went on mat leave and have just made things very difficult for me but then rlented on a couple of issues at the last minute to make it look as if they are being reasonable. To top it off I received a letter from them in December which effectively states that my position had been made redundant but they never told me this all through the grievance process. I have put in a claim for constructive dismissal and discrimination but don't now know if this new information changes that and it is actually unfair dismissal? Surely I should have been informed if there were to be structural changes to my department and if there were 2 existing roles at the level should I not have been given the opportunity to apply for that role alongside my colleague. Someone has even mentioned that as I was on maternity leave I should have been given preference for the remaining role over my colleague?! They have certainly got my head spinning!!!