Constructive Dismissal

[Moonlit]

Please help!!

I was forced to resign from my company a month ago. My boss gave me the option to choose my child or my job, when I asked for parental leave. I did not go into work for the one months notice I gave, because I had booked holidays a while ago and because on the advice on my GP.

I have been descriminated against at this company since I was pregnant.

1. I was not promoted
2. When I asked them to give me another appraisal they did not promote again
3. They did not carry out a health and safety when I was pregnant.
4. When I returned to work, I was told I could only have my salary increased 2% because I had been on maternity leave.
5. Then when I asked to be transferred to another department, at the internal interview I was asked if I was planning to have another child.

And the list goes on.

I am currently putting together a grievance letter. To I have a case against my company? As I will have to used the modified grievance procedure are there time limits for this?

Any advice on this would me most welcome.

Hi Flowerybeanbag,

Nope she is an assistant employment solicitor. I have checked out the previous companies she has worked for. She certainly has a good background.

My DH made me cancel the appointment with the senior employment solicitor because he wanted a consultation fee. I can and can't see my DH point of view on this but unfortunately as he is going to pay for the legal services, I can't argue with him about it at this stage.

So currently I have only this solicitor. She not cheap either you know £160 per hour.

I had a letter from ACAS also saying they were going to act as intermediates.

It's funny, day by day I am feeling like I have more strength to battle this. As I know they are the ones who are wrong and I deserve justice.

So I am still looking for a good solicitor.

By the way is it true companies don't need to have guidelines readily available for employees in regards to their rights at work?

Thank you x

Hi Moonlit.

Keep going!
Don't let the ba*rds get away with this.

Moonlit I am glad you are feeling strong about this

It's difficult to know what to say about the solicitor really. It's up to you what to do. ON the one hand, everyone has to start somewhere and just because she hasn't had a case like this before doesn't mean she won't handle it well this time. ON the other hand no one likes to be a guinea pig. Thats not especially cheap, so I am guessing it must be a reasonably decent firm she is with?

About the guidelines for employees,there is no requirement for the employer to make any information available to employees about their rights, no. The written information they must by law provide is very very limited, just a basic statement of your main contract details, place of work, that type of thing.

In terms of your employment rights the onus is on you to inform yourself about them, not to assume your employer will tell you all about them as well as making sure you get what you are entitled to.

I wish nothing but the best for you Moonlit.
You're doing really well (hope that's not patronising!) Keep it up!

Hi Lovemymum, flowerybeanbag and mamasin,

Thank you for all your support!

I have now hired my solicitor and am ready to kick some butt :-)

I will keep you all updated.

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YAY! That's good news, definitely keep us updated.

Flowery,

My company has already made an offer £3k cheeky buggers! This is through ACAS. I told ACAS this is not acceptable. and I will get back to them with an amount. Now I know how much I would like for loss of earnings, bonuses, pay rises, lack of promotion etc. I have been very precise down to the penny, because i would like what I am owed, and not ask for greedy amounts. However, can I at this point ask for compensation for hurt feelings and discrimination? How do I calculate this ? I will ask my solicitor also.

Thanks

x

Good news that they have made an offer Moonlit, they clearly don't want it to go as far as the tribunal and probably won't be expecting you to accept their first offer. In terms of how much you really should get your solicitor's advice, he/she will know much more about the current situation with regards compensation amounts awarded that I do. I have had a little look and found this guide to some of the things considerd when sex discrimination awards are decided upon, including injury to feelings. It's a site intended for legal advisers so it's fairly complex but it's in reasonably accessible English so you might find it helpful to have a look at this page. Again, really a question that your solicitor will be able to give you proper guidance on, I would definitely speak to him/her before you go back with an amount.

Bear in mind that you should not expect the same amount for settling that you would hope to get if you win a case at tribunal. The point of a settlement is it's a compromise, for both parties the hassles and risks of a tribunal are removed, with the employee getting some money and able to walk away and get on with their life without more stress, legal bills etc, and the employer getting a bill to pay but not the hassle of a tribunal, the risk of losing, publicity, legal bills etc

Your solicitor will discuss all of this with you I am sure. But positive that they have made a move towards a settlement, I am sure you will come to a suitable arrangement.

Hi Flowery,

Negotiations have begun. Soon this will be all over, and I can start afresh. Thank you for everything you have done for me so far. The advice and support you have given to me as a stranger has been unbelievable!. I would not have been able to do this with out you. You are an absolute angel! God bless you.

I will keep you updated.

x

Moonlit what a lovely thing to say

Fingers crossed you get it settled very quickly.

Hi Flowery,

You are most welcome.

Negotiations are still going on. I was wondering, is it possible for me to set up a business whilst all of this is going on. Or would I be looked upon less favorably, if this goes to a tribunal. My solicitor keeps on telling me to apply for jobs. But I am seriously looking at starting a business. I have made contacts, reading books and doing all the background work at the moment.

What do you think?

Moonlit when you go to a tribunal you are expected to mitigate your loss. In other words, if you are claiming compensation for loss of earnings, etc etc, you are not supposed to sit there waiting for your award to come through, you are expected to do what you can to minimise the effect on you, which would normally be applying for jobs, as your solicitor says. Obviously you are hoping not to end up at the tribunal itself, but you should still try and mitigate the loss.

I'm not sure whether starting your own business would count for that or not. I don't see why not, as the aim obviously is to make money from it, although it may take longer than getting another job. As you are hoping for this to settle very soon, I can't see a problem myself - if you were not settling and were preparing for a tribunal which could be a few months, it might be reasonable to say you ought to be applying for similar jobs to what you had before.

Have you talked to your solicitor about this? Because although you are probably not going to a tribunal your ex-employer might protest when coming to an agreement for a settlement figure that you are not doing your best to mitigate your loss. Maybe you could look for some suitable jobs as well, be quite fussy about them but just be looking and applying. By the time you've found anything suitable, applied and had an interview, hopefully you will have settled anyway so you won't have to take the job if you don't want to.

Hi Flowery,

Thank you for all the fabulous advice.

x

Flowery,

They have doubled their offer!

Moonlit-Hope this bit helps too.

I recently went to a mock tribunal held by the local business development enterprise for small businesses. It was very useful as it showed how formal the procedure is but also how fair.

What I wanted to add is that the employment law solicitor hosting the day said two points which might be interesting to you.

a) No tribunal will consider the case unless/until the companies grievance procedure has been followed (or you can show documentation to prove you tried & were refused the chance to do so) They will ALWAYS advise you to go & try that first.

b) Quite often the firms concerned will drag their feet in providing documantation etc & then at the 11th hour settle before it gets to tribunal. So hopefully once they see you are serious & have a good solicitor they will make an offer. Don't accept the first one, consider it & refer all paperwork to her so you don't have the added stress of dealing with it.

Good luck.

Hi Bossybritches,

Thank you so much for your comments. Luckily I have a very good solicitor, who really is taking away the stress part for me. My company don't want this going to a hearing, so they are trying to settle this fast. Hopefully, It will be all over by the end of this week.

Fingers crossed Moonlit!!

Ooh good news about doubling offer! Should be all sorted v soon!

Flowery,

I am so upset. My company have submitted the ET3 and seen my schedule of losses. They are not prepared to offer more. Because they truly believe I did not deserve my promotion. Although my emails show I was made to do all the work of a a more senior person. I must admit I have not given these emails to my solicitor because there are so many. But she does know about them. Also, the whole issue of being told to chose my job or my daughter is being skirted over. Why is no one listening to me.

I am so upset, and I can't talk to anyone about it.

x

Moonlit try not to panic if you can. What happened to the settlement talks - the offer of double the original figure? Or was that not enough? I'm not suggesting it should be enough, just a question about where the settlement discussions ended up.

Who is it that is skirting over the issue about choosing your work or your daughter? If it's your ex-employer that is to be expected, they are bound to down-play something like that. Is your solicitor fully aware of everything and does she understand your claim properly? If it's just your ex-employer who are skirting over some of it/denying it that is entirely to be expected. And just because they have put in their ET3 doesn't mean it won't still settle.

What has your solicitor said about all this?

Hi Flowery,

Thank god you are here.

They have offered 6k as their final offer. As they feel they can defend their position in regards to not promoting me and my solicitor feels they have a point. But my claim does not include hurt feelings etc. Don't they know I can get this also if I take this further.

My salary loss has been 6k alone since I resigned. Then on top of that they owe me holiday pay, approximately £1k. Holidays and company benefits etc £1k. Bonus £2k. We are already up to ten with that alone. PLUS the salary rises I should have had when I was due my promotion.

My job is very complicated and trying to explain it to solicitor is very difficult. Basically the aim of company is to bill a client for work that is completed by a member of staff. Now as we are on different salaries. My company always want the person with a low billable rate to do the work. This shows the client the work is being done within budget. So by not promoting me, they were able to keep within budget. I hope I am not confusing you.

So my title and my job description are very basic as reflected by my salary. However, my emails show that I was doing work covered by the job description of a more senior person. However, my company were not paying me accordingly.

Now the issue of the manager who denied me parental leave. The response of ex- employers totally avoids the issue of her saying this to me. My solicitor says it's my word against hers. Even though the HR lady knows she said this to me. But will never back me up.

My solicitor just keeps saying I don't have a strong case. But she hasn't even seen the fifty emails I have, showing I was a well respected senior person on the project.

I really hate my ex-employers they have made my life hell. I really feel I should hire a more competent solicitor and take this all the way!

Please help Flowery.

Oh Moonlit I'm not sure there's an awful lot I can do for you at this stage.

I do understand what you are saying about your job. Maybe your solicitor needs to see your emails in more detail if you feel she doesn't understand? You are probably right the HR lady will not back you up about the parental leave thing, but do you have anything in writing at all - even a meeting note you made yourself? If there is nothing, not even your own notes of the meeting, it might be difficult to hang much on that. The 'burden of proof' in a tribunal claim is not the same as in a criminal court - you don't have to prove something 'beyond all reasonable doubt' the same way. Probability comes into it a bit more.

It's difficult, I don't know how good your solicitor is - you seemed fairly happy with her before, no? I would hesitate to advise you to dump her and find someone else to 'take it all the way' based on the information I have, which is limited to say the least. Perhaps go and see your solicitor again, ask her to explain exactly what she feels the limitations of your case are, and address them where you can?

Hi Flowery,

I thought my solicitor understood my case, but she doesn't seem to.

I do have notes from all the meetings with my previous manager. Because I would always prepare a list of things I was going to discuss with her and then would right down on my copy what she would say in response to each point.

I think I will need to go and see my solicitor in person.

Thank you anyway, I alway feel better about my case. Once I have spoken to you about it. It's a shame their isn't a employment solicitor on this forum to.

Glad you feel a bit better

I think you do need to have a conversation in person with your solicitor, definitely, work out exactly what she perceives as the potential problems and work through them together.

Thanks flowery!

Me solicitor emailed at midnight. Don't they sleep. Or are they trying to bill every hour imaginable .

x