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.

You could ask HR to have a protected conversation and see what they are willing to offer you by way of negotiated settlement for you to leave and not being a claim for constructive dismissal. If it’s a protected conversation then if they don’t offer you enough to go, you don’t have to resign and they can’t use anything said in that conversation against you.

As the compensation awards for sexual discrimination are uncapped (unlike dismissal or constructive dismissal for non discriminatory reasons which are calculated by reference to years worked) companies often settle these out rather than fight them. Maybe a preparatory appointment with an employment lawyer to gauge how much to ask for and the strengths of your claim (at a cost of <£500) would be money well spent and then you can negotiate the exit package yourself. Your company will pay for legal advice on the wording of the actual settlement agreement - these are not binding unless legal advice has been obtained.

Some solicitors offer a free initial consultation , I used one when I was in a similar position and the total legal costs were less than £1,000 which were paid along with pay covering the period I was out of work as agreement to settle before tribunal

i call BS on HR and ACAS saying you have been “treated abysmally”

when this happened a couple of days ago
and

well it’s clearly BS

Well this is odd, I don’t know why I can’t do either of these things within 3 days, I just picked up the phone…..

ok and your company’s HR said you’d been treated abysmally?

and ACAS agreed but nothing further was advised

so zero investigation or enquiry

your internal HR went straight to concluding you’d been treated abysmally and to seek legal advice

no process, no investigation, no… nothing

First thing you do is download any emails, voicemails or texts before they’re deleted.

what’s actually happened?

Yes, they may work for the company but they also have a responsibility to employees and making sure policies and procedures are followed fairly.

I can’t remember ACASs precise words to be honest, they did advise legal advise though

I think if you have any whiff of sex discrimination it is strong leverage. I would get working on your grievance it may take you many hours to compile. In terms of going back to work it may depend on how long you can get full pay for (the company may drag out the grievance for months and months) and how unpleasant it is to be at work. You could go to your GP to report bullying and stress and be sure to put this in the grievance. But be careful not to go overboard with mental health because you don’t want it used against you. Make it clear you have experienced damage as a result of their actions and you didn’t have any pre existing mental health issues. Would you rather be at work or not?

HR do indeed have duty to ensure that policies and procedures are followed fairly. This is exactly what makes it very hard to believe that they would say that you've been treated abysmally unfairly and that you should seek legal advice.

No halfway competent HR person would respond in that way when you haven't submitted a grievance and there hasn't been a proper investigation.

do you have anything in writing from HR saying you’ve been treated abysmally

and ACAS said get legal advice and… nothing more?

HR haven’t followed any process or pressure

without any investigation they have concluded you’ve been abysmally treated and advised legal advice without anything further

I got a decent settlement and a good portion of my legal costs paid. The settlement covered much more than the rest of the legal costs.
Speak to an employment lawyer, they should have an initial half hour chat for free. Ask around for recommendations.

Yes you need to raise a grievance. All a grievance is is a complaint that is raised formally as its unable to be resolved informally.

You don't need to concern yourself about who to complain about - individual or company. Just detail the issue. The organisation then has to deal with it as per their grievance procedure. Detail the areas of the equality act you believe have been breached.

I get the impression you work for the NHS. If you do or a similar organisation, you may have an Equality & Diversity Lead who you can ask about protected characteristics and what constitutes a breach. This will help inform your grievance.

Best of luck. I know its not nice. I'm going through rubbish at work myself. But you will work through it and come out the other side at some point. Remember there's lots of issues going on in your workplace that are piling up in HR for resolution. Its a big club and you're not alone although it doesn't feel that way.

And yes, you can return to work while your grievance is in progress but you may require interim conditions until grievance is concluded e.g. not being line managed by X.

Employee Assistance Program has free legal advice. And free counselling. Call them. Good luck.

Raise a grievance. Be factual about how this has made you feel about coming to work Think about what you want as a "solution" on paper- formal apology, change of line manager, policy change etc. Get yourself signed off with work place stress, get an SAR in and then go from there. Most places don't want their dirty laundry aired in public so don't be surprised if they approach you with a settlement.

I suppose as the incident has happened it might be too late to join a union?

That would depend on if the OPs employer has an EAP. Most do now granted. But it's worth checking!

and it’s not 🤔 that your very own internal HR immediately responded that you’d definitely been treated abysmally and that you should seek legal advice

come on op. If you can’t even be honest on an anonymous chat forum… then i imagine you don’t have a leg to stand on in RL on this matter

These are usually funded by the company and specifically exclude giving legal advice about your employment, I found that out when I tried to find out my rights my my job was off-shored!

ACAS will never give you specific advice, they may give you guidance as to what the law says surrounding your situation but they can't give advice or opinions as they're impartial.

Citizen's Advice Bureau may be a good start, they often have employment law experts.
Can you try a "no win no fee" for a consultation?

You don't even "need" a solicitor - you can represent yourself through early conciliation and at a tribunal, it's free - but there's a lot of prep involved for an ET and you'd likely be up against their legal team.

A couple of things to be mindful of - constructive unfair dismissal is a difficult one to prove.

What is "morally" unfair and what is "legally" unfair in employment law are two very different things.

If you were to go down the route of ACAS early conciliation, if your employer is willing, you can essentially get a settlement agreement, but it has to be something you both agree to, ACAS can't force the employer to engage in early conciliation.

However, you would need to be careful, as if you have not resigned, but you make a claim, then it may potentially be seen as a premature claim, as the thing you're complaining about hasn't yet happened. That doesn't usually go down well.
Obviously not telling you to resign, just saying that timeframes are very important when it comes to employment tribunals and early conciliation.

Good luck!

I’ve DM’d you

Check with your union. I'm unison and they are paying for my lawyer. I'm suing my employer for accident at work