Dilema

[Chilly]

Hello to anyone reading this , your time is appreciated.

so in brief i was dismissed from my job (unfairly IMO)
I decided to take my former employer to tribunal, and my case is due to be heard in the early part of next year .
My ET1 clearly states that i am seeking compensation only . Straight forward enough right???

I am representing myself ( its far from easy , but doable fingers crossed)

The time lapse between my suspension was considerable , and once my dismissal came , i was advised by The CAB to appeal my dismissal ,
a) because we may have come to a mutual agreement which would prevent the need to go to a tribunal (compensation)
b) it would demonstrate as an employee that i was following the acas code.

I was asked by the appeal manager what i would like the outcome to be . ........
I quoted what it was i wanted , along with what i didnt want ...... .
The trust between us was gone and i was not interested in being an employee ...this was both verbally and in writing.
The Decision came a few weeks later
I was being REINSTATED !!!!!!
So from what i can gather this means that in the eyes of the law i was never dismissed !!!!
They have tried to pay me back pay ....this has been returned .......
They have written to me insisting i turn up for work
i didnt go ....
They have carried out an investigation into why i am AWOL .........
And now they have dismissed me again !!!
I truly believe that this is a game to prevent me from going to tribunal ...
What value is there in reinstating an employee that clearly does not want to be there... .

My question is , will it be likely that my claim will now be thrown out , or do these things get heard regardless ??

Opinions gratefully recieved.
Hope it all makes sense
Chilly

[ULA]

In order to help you it would be useful to have a timeline of events as follows:

1. Date of suspension
2. Date of disciplinary that resulted in your dismissal
3. Date of your appeal letter
4. Date of appeal meeting
5. Date you received decision and when reinstated you from
6. Date you made your ET1 claim for and what was the basis of your claim
7. Date of all correspondence from the company about your reinstatement/AWOL/new disciplinary I presume and then dismissal.

From what I understand you verbally and in writing confirmed that you no longer wanted to be employed by the company so you were therefore looking for some form of compensation to leave?

What were the reasons given for reinstating you having previously decided to dismiss you?

What is the status of your ET claim e.g. has the company submitted and ET3 yet?

Sorry about all the questions but the answers would really help. Thanks

[Chilly]

December ....no reason given
End Of January
Beginning feb
End of March
Early April
Before appeal.(all submitted on time)
Mainly procedural errors
Awol From Mid may (six weeks after 'reinstatement'
Monies paid into bank (returned)
Yes .......The compensation was for way i was treated , loss or earnings .
Sanction reduced from dismissal to FWW
No valid reasons given .
Yes they have submitted et3 claiming i am still an employee so no case to answer

[Chilly]

To add further that by way of a SARS request after my dismissal i was sent a document that clearly shows my dismissal had already been decided by HR days prior to my actual disciplinary hearing ....
I was not provided with evidence , and was told i can only have it if i request it.
Was not allowed to challenge witnesses
and CCTV that would have strongly supported me was purposely witheld........

[ULA]

So it sounds like you submitted your ET claim before you knew the outcome of your appeal.

When you were offered your job back did you put in writing to your employer that you were unable to accept that as a solution giving the reasons why and that will be an important piece of evidence to support you non-return to work. What were the reasons you gave for not returning back to work

[Chilly]

Good Morning
yes you are correct i did.
It seemed to me that they were deliberately extending things to get passed the prescribed time limits.

I wrote a statement prior to my appeal hearing which was sent by email, and acknowledged by return of email.
This clearly stated that i no longer wished to work for this company because the trust that should exist between us was broken beyond repair.
This was all repeated in the meeting itself , and is documented in the notes.


I had recieved paperwork a few weeks prior as part of a SARS request , the contents were shocking.

For example i had claimed prior that my investigation meeting had been poor (they denied it) however in amongst this paperwork was a summary clearly stating that indeed the "investigation was lacking" along with " the note taking is not of an adequate standard "
Along with "further training / coaching recommended "
There was also a document (date and time stamped) that clearly showed my dismissal had been decided before the disciplinary hearing itself.
Along with an email between various HR admitting they shall have to " report it as a data breach to both the employee and ICO" This was for not obtaining CCTV that had been requested by me.

The respondents solicitor is (imo) spending far too much time in trying to build a case from things that have been 'set up' by them , rather than sticking to the case management orders , which are way out of sync !!
I have recieved no notification that an extension has been applied for so ............

I guess there must be rules of procedure for both parties ??

Anyway thanks for taking an interest ........i wont lie its tough and stressful , but i have to see this through.

[ULA]

Conducting your own ET claim, particularly when your employer is represented is a tough road. Here at LegalBeagles we can help you along the way.

So it is really good that you have detailed the reasons for not wanting to accept a reinstatement and that this was acknowledged.
Your ET claim went in well before the deadline of 3 months minus a day from your dismissal.

You make an interesting point in regard to the Case Management Order (CMO) has this given timescales for list of documents to be relied on at the hearing to be produced, dates for exchange etc. In what way have the respondents failed to comply?

If they have failed to comply with deadline given in the CMO then the best course of action is to send an email to the respondent's solicitors to request they are send whatever it is in accordance with the CMO, if they are out of time state that and give them seven days to reply back. If they don't then you can apply to the Tribunal to ask them to make an Order to enforce that aspect of the CMO, provide a copy of your correspondence to the respondent in your application. Very important thing to remember is every time you write to the Tribunal you must copy in the respondent and state that "In accordance with rules 30(2) and 92 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013, I have sent a copy of this application to the Respondent "

[Chilly]

Thanks for the info ....

The respondents solicitor was supposed to have produced the bundle and sent me a copy by 27th May , this was extended i.guess by mutual
agreement until.the 2nd of June.

Until i have the paperwork in its entirety i am unable to prepare my statement ( my biggest hurdle i feel.)

For the sake of 'argument' what if they did fail.to comply , whats the best case scenario i could expect ??

Your time is greatly appreciated
Chilly

[ULA]

In the same way as you have to copy any correspondence to the Tribunal to the respondent's solicitor they have also to comply with this requirement. If they have made a request for an extension you should have had a copy of that in order to appeal their request if you wanted to. Given that, if the Tribunal had granted an extension then you would have been notified. You can always contact the Tribunal and ask if there have been any granted changes to the dates given in the original CMO.

If they fail to comply with the exchange of documents they are going to rely on at the Hearing including any witness statements then they will not be able to rely on these at the hearing unless they apply for the Tribunal's permission to do so which may be refused.

Have you provided to the respondent's solicitors copies of what you need to in accordance with the CMO?

[Chilly]

Thank you
Yes i have given in all of my documents.
However the fact that i have not been given the pack has (is) preventing me from writing my statement.
Maybe now the solicitor has all of the documents it is creating a different picture?

I knew this was never going to be easy but !!!

Thanks again for your input , much appreciated