New subscriber asking where best to read about the Employment Tribunal Process & ACAS

[Roger13]

Hello,

I am a new subscriber to legalbeagles and wish to embark on a Whistleblowing claim via the Employment Tribunal process and ask for where is the best place to read about it. I am under the impression ACAS is the first step and I would like to take it as far as I can on my own in the early stages. If and when the time comes I expect to engage a barrister via Direct Access. My employer is very large and there will be many others who have been through a ET claim with this firm and it would be very interesting to make contact with such people to compare notes. Any pointers on how to make contact?

Thank you,

[Le Jardinier]

Your posting indicates that you think you are about to be dismissed or may have been dismissed unfairly for 'whistleblowing' - or have you been dismissed apparently for some other reason to cover the true 'whistleblowing' reason? This could be significant as the circumstances will determine whether you should claim for automatic unfair dismissal or for ordinary unfair dismissal, the difference being in the way an employment tribunal will treat your claim. ACAS provides free and impartial information and advice to employers and employees on all aspects of workplace relations and employment law and also offers a conciliation service, which you will probably be obliged to register with before you are allowed to submit a claim to an employment tribunal. However, ACAS is not a source of legal advice per se but, if you enter 'whistleblowing' into the search engine on their website ( https://acas.org.uk/advice ) you will be able to identify what it has to offer on the subject, which is otherwise known as 'public interest disclosure'. If you plan to get started on your own, to begin with you would be advised to identify the key relevant laws and legal instruments that deal with employment rights (the Employment Rights Act 1996), the employment tribunal process (the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 and the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013) as well any that deal with as public interest disclosure (the Public Interests Disclosure Act 1998), all of which are accessible online via the relevant gov.uk website ( https://www.legislation.gov.uk ). Although you can search within the various legal texts using relevant terms, it might be better to browse the contents sections of each Act first to get an overview of their scope before you 'dig in'. What will be of primary importance is whether or not your 'whistleblowing' activity will meet the statutory requirements for legal purposes to be classed as 'protected disclosures'. Beyond that, right from the very beginning you must be acutely conscious of statutory time limits, especially for preparing and submitting your claim to an employment tribunal, which can sometimes be difficult and complex to calculate and therefore suggests that you should try as much as possible not to leave things until the last moment. What may also be relevant is the nature of your employer's business activities and the extent to which they and your 'whistleblowing' disclosures might have any national security implications, which could be restrictive and even prevent you from making a claim.

[Amethyst]

The best forum is https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...ent-law-issues but I will move this thread there as you have quite a lot of info on your post and a reply to it - so just carry on using this thread

[Amethyst]

Hello,

I am a new subscriber to legalbeagles and wish to embark on a Whistleblowing claim via the Employment Tribunal process and ask for where is the best place to read about it. I am under the impression ACAS is the first step and I would like to take it as far as I can on my own in the early stages. If and when the time comes I expect to engage a barrister via Direct Access. My employer is very large and there will be many others who have been through a ET claim with this firm and it would be very interesting to make contact with such people to compare notes. Any pointers on how to make contact?

Thank you,

On previous ET claims you could search for your company name in previous rulings - > https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions?
You could also look at previous rulings which are related to whistleblowing. &/ public interest disclosure.

[Roger13]

Re: "Your posting indicates that you think you are about to be dismissed or may have been dismissed unfairly for 'whistleblowing' - or have you been dismissed apparently for some other reason to cover the true 'whistleblowing' reason? This could be significant as the circumstances will determine whether you should claim for automatic unfair dismissal or for ordinary unfair dismissal, the difference being in the way an employment tribunal will treat your claim."

Firstly thank you for your reply. I am following up on just part of your comments here ...

I believe I am about to be dismissed as a business decision is being made to move the role to a remote lower cost location and this is happening because of my whistleblowing. The selection of my role where there is only one person at that level in that location seems to have been designed as a convenient excuse to catch me and for this to happen just before my 2 year anniversary. While I am confident no one will doubt the validity of my whistleblowing I read the court will also need to be convinced that whistleblowing was the cause of the selection of my role as part of the business decision. Can you help me figure out does the burden of proof lie with the claimant or the defendant? And yes please can you let me know if this means I would be claiming for "automatically unfair" or "ordinary unfair" dismissal?

Thank you again,

[Le Jardinier]

If I understand correctly, it would appear that you believe that your employer is about to make you redundant because of its business need for relocation of function and simultaneous reduction of posts.

However, if the real reason for your dismissal is whistleblowing, then the statutory 2-year continuous period of employment does not apply. So, if that were to be the reason for your dismissal and you can substantiate it before an employment tribunal then it will rule that you have been automatically dismissed unfairly and there would be no need to show that your employer had acted unreasonably or had failed to follow a fair procedure, which considerably increases your chances of winning your claim.

With regard to 'burden of proof', you would be responsible for establishing the set of facts that link your whistleblowing to your employer's decision to dismiss you. The 'burden of proof' is not the same as 'standard of proof', which concerns the level of certainty with which something must be proved. In employment tribunals, the standard of proof is on the 'balance of probabilities’, which means that something is more likely than not to be true. However, you should also bear in mind that usually the burden of proof is not important, as employment tribunals are much more disposed to reaching a fairly firm conclusion about what they think probably happened. You should instead try to persuade an employment tribunal of all it needs to know to be convinced of, irrespective of the burden of proof, by trying just as hard to prove your claim when the burden is on the respondent (in this case your employer), as you do when it is on the claimant (i.e. you).

As you must appreciate, your claim will turn on the central whistleblowing issue. Does your employer have an internal written whistleblowing policy? Did you adhere to it, or did you ignore it and go 'public' regardless and, if so, then why? Can you show that you believed in the veracity of your disclosures at the time you made them? Do your disclosures meet the criteria specified in section 43B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 to qualify for protection, i.e.:

"....... a “ qualifying disclosure ” means any disclosure of information which, in the reasonable belief of the worker making the disclosure, is made in the public interest and tends to show one or more of the following—

(a) that a criminal offence has been committed, is being committed or is likely to be committed,
(b) that a person has failed, is failing or is likely to fail to comply with any legal obligation to which he is subject,
(c) that a miscarriage of justice has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur,
(d) that the health or safety of any individual has been, is being or is likely to be endangered,
(e) that the environment has been, is being or is likely to be damaged, or
(f) that information tending to show any matter falling within any one of the preceding paragraphs has been, is being or is likely to be deliberately concealed."

[Soapie]

I can only offer very simple advice as I am new to the environment of employment disputes. I am pursuing a number of grievances related to pay and the absence of accurate payslips and a corresponding P45.

I embarked on the road by consulting Citizens Advice and ACAS. I approached ACAS and found their involvement not only very professional and helpful but also a good route to the Employment Tribunal process. They operate the early conciliation process and provide impartial communication between the two parties so increasing the likelihood of resolving differences before situations escalate. The ACAS web site will provide you with a clear introduction to the process and will advise on the procedures. I have also involved HMRC as ACAS do not advise on tax.

Citizens Advice, whilst not offering qualified legal advice, were able to advise on the gamut of aspects of my case that I should consider and were very useful.