Problem at work, not sure how to move forwards

[Myemployersarescumbags]

Hi all

I work for a fairly large company where I am quite senior. I can’t go into the details as it’s fairly specific but I’ve been screwed over by my company. It’s a grossly unfair situation and everyone (incl HR and ACAS) say it’s totally wrong and I’ve been treated abysmally and I should think about what I want and get legal advice.

I think it’s constructive dismissal (note I am still employed and haven’t done anything drastic yet). I’ve been researching employment solicitors and the costs are eye watering. One solicitors website even suggested that win or lose, I would have to swallow the legal costs myself- somewhere between £10k & £40k. This can’t be right surely? I don’t have this kind of money, no one would ever take legal action if this was the case surely??!

I’ve phoned 3 solicitors today, 2 I still haven’t heard back from and the 3rd I got a call back but they said they couldn’t talk to me due to a conflict of interest (at this point they only knew my name and number and the name of my employer, nothing else). I don’t even understand this, my role at work means I am heavily involved with all legal stuff and this is 100% not a firm we have ever used (this was a 1 man band kind of firm, my company have a big London firm on retainer)

I don’t even want a full on Tribunal, I just want an apology and a settlement/termination agreement of some kind so I can leave straight away and move on. I assume I still need a solicitor for this? I just don’t know if I’m doing stuff correctly, anyone got any salient advice?

I apologise for not being able to recount the whole saga right now, I would find that annoying if I was reading this post as well, it’s just that it’s a pretty unique situation.

Oh and I am in England and I’ve been here over 5 years. I’m on my second day of ‘sickness’ at the moment because I can’t bear the thought of going to work as normal and the culprits thinking they can get away with what they’ve done.

Are you part of a union OP? Do you have home insurance that might cover this?

Your big cost is going to be your legal help, so your solicitors, a good employment solicitor will cost anywhere from £200-500 an hour and depending on the complexity of the case you do need a good one.

Do you have legal cover on your house insurance?
Don't talk withwork HR, they are paid by the employer (their sympathy doesn't count).
Absence is due to 'work related stress'

really tricky to comment on such scant detail op

What formal processes have you gone through at work? Have you been through complaints/grievances etc.?

they couldn’t talk to me due to a conflict of interest

married to someone at your company? that kind of thing

You are required to have a lawyer to settle but usually they will negotiate that the costs be covered by them, or at least a contribution. Most good firms will give you a brief free initial consultation to help explain this. IRS very rare that cases ever go to ET as no business wants their details aired in public if they can help it.

It’s a grossly unfair situation and everyone (incl HR and ACAS) say it’s totally wrong and I’ve been treated abysmally and I should think about what I want and get legal advice.

Your company’s HR?
and ACAS said this but offered no practical assistance?

Constructive dismissals are usually paid up to around 10k and are rarely successful (I looked into it when I was being treated badly at work). I also got house insurance that included legal employment cover! It sucks. HR agreed I was treated badly but said my best option would be to leave because it’s hard to change a toxic team. I would have loved to leave but the bank really like me to pay my mortgage!

That was the advice I got too. Big organisation with lawyers are hard to beat, even if you’re right.

i’m confused

you were told it was abysmally unfair and you should get legal advice?

You need to lodge a grievance and you need to be strategic about it. Develop a consistent narrative that is persuasive and points the finger of blame each time towards one person. Put lots and lots of hard evidence in the grievance to back up every single point. You need an angle - is there a possibility of it being sex discrimination even if indirect. If so this will be good leverage. You are aiming to put pressure on them to give you a settlement. Then you need to do a subject access request asking for literally everything to do with you and the issue at hand. Once you have the grievance and SAR in, hopefully you can start negotiating your exit. There are loads of good videos on YouTube that will help you do this. Remember it's not about the law but strategy. Make yourself a nuisance so they will pay you to go away. Ideally you would have a lawyer to help. Good luck.

This only happened end of last week so nothing official has happened yet, I asked about a grievance informally but seemed sensible to wait until I got proper advice. Already checked my home insurance and sadly that’s a box I didn’t tick, but I did on my car insurance although turns out that’s only motor related legal.

and the company’s HR has said you e been treated abysmally and to get legal advice?

and ACAS have offered nothing more than to say it’s unfair?

so constructive dismissal on the basis of one specific event last week?

Yes, but to consider what I’d actually want from legal route as less than 5% of constructive dismissal cases are successful.

2 previous employees had accused the team of similar but it just gets ignored.

That’s actually really helpful. This is about one arrogant person (right at the top) overriding all policies and procedures and advice from people that know better.

My main issue is in fact sexual discrimination but I’m very pragmatic and know how hard it would be to prove. Deep down I’m convinced me being a woman is a huge part of this but I just don’t have the money to throw at legal costs.

If I were to raise a grievance tomorrow, would I just go back to work whilst this happened?

ACAS said this to you?

@muthaofcats nailed it.

I know someone who got their costs covered on this kind of thing but they did have to pony up for the lawyers during the case which was difficult.

I think you are in the right mindset because you know exactly what you want to achieve and im sure you have common ground, they will want to end it too. Paying people off is the quick and easy route for most firms.

I'd go to your GP and get signed off with stress, which you clearly are suffering from, then look for sources of funds that you can aim to pay back after the case (family would be ideal but we're talking thousands here).

The thing with constructive dismissal is that it’s hard to prove, only around 5% are successful, and the costs for good legal advice and work for this is huge. As I say a good solicitor anyway from £200-500 an hour and there’s a lot of hours of work for them to do, the initial chats, the preparing of the loss, entering into ACAS early conciliation, drafting your claim, corresponding with the employer on their responses, exploring the possibility of a settlement and negotiating that, preparing for hearing if no success at settlement etc. You could easily be looking at tens of thousands and the odds of winning even after all of that aren’t in your favour.

You have to think of this logically and practically.
Id suggest firstly you need to write up your version of events plus a timeline.
Id then state everything you think was wrong.
Run the whole lot through Chat GTP and tell it to use UK HR business law and use ACAS as a guide.
Ask it to write a letter to your employers stating all of the above, inc what happened, timeline, why you feel this was wrong and finally what you want as the outcome.

Exactly what has HR said and whose HR as things critical. You can potentially use them as witnesses for you.

Yep, my job is no longer tenable

I know somebody who went through this, won and was still out of pocket

It really sucks but lawyers are expensive and you don’t always get awarded enough to cover your legal fees, even if you win

I’m surprised ACAS couldn’t offer more help. Try home insurance and your union

What is it you want? Is it a payout and leave or is it a change at work?

I find it slightly odd that you say HR state the situation is wrong but are not taking action to sort things out. Why do you think the issue is so major that there is no route to continue your employment?

have they said essentially you’ll be sacked if you don’t leave?

and internal HR have agreed you have been treated abysmally?