Employment Tribunal

[Honey18]

Good Morning Everyone
I am representing myself and taking my previous employer to court over a number of issues, the 2 that I’m most concerned about are that my personal file including my passport, medical details, bank details drivers license etc was taken out of the safe and off the premises for 7 weeks then found on the back seat of my line managers car when I realised they were missing, I raised a grievance which I lost, appealed then was told I had no grounds for a grievance as no wrong doing had taken place, even though I was with the line manager for 8 hours the day my file was left in her car so know for a fact it was left unattended that day and no one will tell me where it was the rest of the time it was missing!
The 2nd is I worked for the company for 7 years and 2 years ago was given a promotion, I have an email quite clearly stating I will only be notified if any terms & conditions change, to cut along story short my new manager took an instant dislike to me last October when she started work and at beginning of February (after being off I’ll for 3 weeks) I received my payslip showing I owed them £100 I contacted her and she said my terms & conditions had changed 2 years ago and that is what I owed them - they had taken my ssp off me as well, I then spoke to her on the phone as she wouldn’t acknowledge my emails anymore and I was told if I went back to worki probably wouldn’t have a wage the next month either as I still owed them money from a few weeks sickness I’d had last year and due to my t&c’s changing I was no longer entitled to my higher rate of sickness only ssp, I have repeatedly asked for a copy of this alleged new t&c’s change but have no reply, and most certainly have never signed a new one, they have offered me a very low settlement already which I have turned down and after submitting my evidence 2 weeks ago have now said via Acas they don’t think I have much of a chance of winning based on my evidence but have increased there offer so to settle quickly, I am so angry that I was treated like that and half of me thinks just take the money & pay my debts but why should they be able to treat people like this & get away with it, I feel the little amount they have offered is laughable as opening my wage packet expecting my wages to receive not a penny is totally not acceptable and they shouldn’t be able to treat people like that! Any advice please I would be very grateful, on what I’ve researched and read no one can be sure how it will go on the day so why is the solicitor so keen to tell me my evidence is weak & I have little chance of winning!?

Given they've upped their offer, and I'd go with a counter offer higher than they've offered to settle. Not masses higher but about the same amount they increased last time. It'll be cheaper for them to settle than the cost of a barrister and all the court costs.

half of me thinks just take the money & pay my debts but why should they be able to treat people like this & get away with it

Put aside your indignation and consider that a settlement is a huge plus. Forget about how you think they are treating you, and only focus on whether the settlement agreement they have offered enables you to part company from the employment relationship in a credit situation. You will be wasting your money taking them to Tribunal.

I'm not sure why you would ignore the advice of ACAS and a solicitor, but here's another person to add to that, saying that you will regret not taking their offer. Based on your issues stated, you would potentially come away with a large legal bill and no compensation.

If I were you, I'd get into dialogue with your employer and state you would like them to give you the draft settlement agreement in advance and agree to pay the solicitor's fee to have it reviewed and rubber-stamped. It is common practice for the employer to pay the fee, normally around £200, as it is in their best interests that you sign a fair agreement with a clean break.

Also ensure in the wording of the settlement that they agree to give a neutral factual reference to any future employer seeking one from the company.

And also if they word the contract as an 'ex-gratis' payment, it is treated as non-taxable as it is non-contractual, so you get the full amount provided it's under £30K in total.

A solicitor will tell you all this, but just some points to ensure they do.

OP, what claim(s) have you actually brought?

OP, what claim(s) have you actually brought?

If your solicitor is advising you to settle then you probably should. They know your case in detail and are in a much better position to advise than anyone on here.

In my experience, Employment tribunals start from them the basis of believing the aggrieved and applicant if you have the evidence. And that is from attending several tribunals with Barristers!

What you need to be able thought is to quantify your financial loss and any related damages, for example loss of pension rights.

Marie, what utter nonsense. Tribunals do no such thing - they are there to determine the facts in the context of the law. If a claimant is unrepresented and the respondent is, the ET will try and help the claimant navigate the process, and may even ask questions at cross. Examination that their representative would have, if they had one.

They are NOT biased in favour of claimants.

Herman

Sorry but don't agree. Seen plenty of outcomes over the years and generally (not always) the employee is given the benefit of any doubt, of which of course there is always some variance of account. Only time I have seen otherwise is when it has clearly been a vexatious claim

So what specific legal advice are you giving the OP then Marie?.

Apart from invalidated generalisations about what you 'think' based on a minuscule proportion of actual cases you've attended compared to the thousands of cases heard each year, are you recommending the OP takes the SA or goes to Tribunal instead? Let's take a look at your specific advice and see how it stacks up, shall we?

Marie, I am an ET member and I can assure you that your perception is false. It in unhelpful to come on to specialist boards and give advice when you aren’t an expert.

I think that's the word, Hermione, "perception" is what worries me.

How can the OP act advantageously, based upon someone's random perceptions. It doesn't make it fact, does it.

My DP' s employment tribunal was extremely stressful and led to him suffering depression and feeling suicidal. The "judge" was fair but not particularly helpful. With hindsight DP should have taken the settlement offered though it was a small amount compared to his loss of earnings.

Reading your op, I'd settle especially as your solicitor has advised you to as well.

Is the money enough to compensate you? If so take it and walk away, if not put in s counter offer. You'll never get what you want from them which is an admission of guilt.

OP, from experience, the tribunal will take a dim view if a fair settlement has been offered and you refuse it, then waste everybody's time pursuing it through the ET 'on a matter of principle'.

In my case the other side did not offer a settlement (on principle) and the tribunal panel members were very cross about it.

For me, the stress of a long drawn-out ET was tough, and made me very angry and bitter for a long time afterwards. I would recommend you take your solicitor's advice and settle (if it's a respectful amount) and move on with your life.

Hermon

Marie, I am an ET member and I can assure you that your perception is false. It in unhelpful to come on to specialist boards and give advice when you aren’t an expert.

I'm not giving advice. I'm repeating what some barristers have advised me when dealing with cases or attending a tribunal so you may have your view but clearly others who are also informed have different ideas to someone who sits on the bench!!

DaisychIn why would she come away with a large legal bill if she is defending herself. I thought ets very rarely make employees pay costs?

DaisychIn why would she come away with a large legal bill if she is defending herself. I thought ets very rarely make employees pay costs?

So how do you think a Claimant gets to that ET courtroom? They don't just casually turn up on the day with a few papers in a file and stand there talking through their case with the judge.

It takes months to prepare for Tribunal, from ensuring the claim has merit and the Claimant knows on what basis their employer has flouted employment law, preparing the court bundle, keeping submissions to the due timetable, and so on.

For them to stand a fighting chance, they have to get a solicitor involved. That costs £££ whether the employee is on £10,000 pa or £100,000 pa and no, the ET doesn't "make employees pay costs".

Each side, Claimant and Respondent, pays their own cost at ET. The only saving grace is that ET fees were abolished in the past 18 months.

And awards are not telephone numbers either!

The settlement offered to my DP was low compared to his lost earnings so we pushed for a little more. They refused so we went to tribunal which we lost. We were later told the employer just offered the amount they would have to pay in legal fees so it was no admission of guilt ! DP' s health was badly affected .With hindsight we should have settled.