diibility discrimination

[Minty71]

Hi*
sorry new to this site so I apologise if I have posted in wrong area. I have a ET 3 day hearing later in the year for constructive dismissal and disability discrimination.
i worked for a sales department for 19 years and in 2017 was diagnosed with hearing loss and an auto immune condition which covers me under the equality act and was recognised by occupational health. During this time occupational health completed 3 x reports and advised of reasonable adjustments.*
To be placed in quiet area of call centre, compatible headset, adjustments to targets so I could work within my limitations, regular reviews with manager, micro breaks and a stand up desk.*
Between* Nov 2017 and April 2019 I was emailing my manager and had numerous face to face meeting requesting a headset as it was affecting my performance in work ( because I could hear the customers) I also requested to have the same system training as my co workers ( this was also promised but also cancelled without reason). I began to notice I was being treated differently regarding training, no regular coaching or contact with manager. I felt like they had given up on me.*
In April I complained to manager about the length of time taken to supply me with equipment ( 14months ) and within 14days I am moved to a different manager in a noisy area. The reason given is because my old manager feels she can no longer support me and a new manager could. so now the only adjustment I have is removed. when I arrive at new team I find no manager for first 3 weeks because his shifts do not suit mine and he tells me he know nothing of my disability. He also confirms his shifts do not match mine.

* My previous manager advised she had to complete a handover as per* company policies as she had a duty of care … is this true ?* The ET3 response form is blaming me, stating I did not update my new manager with details of my disability.*

* The ET 3 states that they tried 4 different headsets .. but they didn't, and I have emails over a 14 Month period which shows me asking for a headset due to noise issues, so do they need to provide evidence should of sales orders / receipts or documentation of any kind or do I need to ask them to produce this.

* I have a floor plan of the call centre to show I was moved from a quiet area to a noisy compact area, will I be able to use this in court.

Basically over a 23 month period its identified I have a disability and my employer just wouldn't help. eventually because my performance was affected my coaching, training and reviews and support declined. I ended up dumped in the middle of the call centre where it became impossible for me to work, this led me to breakdown and GP signed me off with work related stress. after 4 weeks I speak to the department manager, who also advises me he knows nothing of my issues, I found all this distressing which led me after 19 years to give 30days notice. department manager advises he will investigate, I await the outcome ( I cant return until this is resolved as the job is making me ill and I don't have adjustments in place or equipment* but he doesn't get back to me despite a long email chasing his investigation and my employment terminates.*

Because I am representing myself, can any one help with how to write a witness statement and is there any information on how to cross examine.*
There is lots of errors and lies on the ET3 to which I can also prove some/most of the information to be untrue/incorrect.
please can anyone advise.

[ULA]

In terms of your witness statement (WS) for an ET claim there are two things to bear in mind one is layout and the second is content. On the layout the WS must be written in the first person perspective, use one and a half line spacing and use a font that is not too small to read. The WS is an account of the events that took place at work, and also what has happened since then. It should be in chronological order, with numbered paragraphs, for example:

1. On 20 November 2019, I did this, or I did that.
2. On 30 November 2019, Mr Jones of the Respondent did this or that.
3. etc

In the content the aim is not to repeat what you have already stated in your ET1 claim, however what you want to do is:

1. Add in the detail or any additional information surrounding the events that you are making the claim about. Be very specific about dates/time/potential witnesses
2. Comment on the ET3
3. Details of your attempts to mitigate your loss (i.e. get another job) if appropriate to your claim.
4. Comments on the documents disclosed by the other side, which you will not have seen at the time you submitted your ET1. If there are any documents which are clearly missing, and perhaps withheld intentionally then you can add comment about them.
5. Comment on any written answers or further information obtained from the Respondent after proceedings started.

When you are commenting on the documents, it is good practice to refer to page numbers of the bundle, as the judge will be grateful for this time saving exercise when trying to cross reference your statement with the paginated bundle of documents which will be used in Tribunal.

Keep your WS succinct and to the point so no needless "waffle".

During cross-examination you must put your case to the witness. That means that wherever there is a significant difference between what the witness is saying and what you or one of your witnesses have said or will say, you need to question the witness about that. You must challenge all material parts of the evidence given by the Respondents witnesses which you do not accept.

Cross-examination will normally require much more detailed preparation. This is probably the most difficult job you have to do and as such you will need to review carefully all the witness statements provided by the respondent and have prepared questions in advance of the hearing.

There are essentially two things you are you are trying to do in cross-examination. The first is to get the witness to give evidence that the tribunal will accept, but which will assist your case more than theirs. The order of the questions in doing this can be quite important and the use of factual questions to build your case are good in assisting with this. The second purpose of cross examination is to undermine the parts of the witness’s evidence that harm your case, by demonstrating that it is careless, mistaken or inaccurate. Make sure that you cross examine on the documents, where they are relevant – for example, pointing out any inconsistencies between them and/or oral evidence. If there is a document that supports your case, make sure that you draw the tribunal’s attention to it.

With cross-examination you are trying to persuade the tribunal to find in your favour. Respondent witnesses rarely admit to having been, mistaken or inaccurate, and will continue to insist on their version of events even after the inaccuracies in their story have been pointed out. This is to be expected. By the time a witness gives their evidence, they have either decided to lie or, more likely, convinced themselves that their version of events is true. If cross-examination has shown that the Respondent’s evidence is inconsistent with the documents in ways their witnesses cannot coherently explain, that is enough. It is worth pushing witnesses far enough to demonstrate to the tribunal that their story is thoroughly implausible; but there is no need to go further than that and do not try and bully them into admitting that they have been lying or no accurately reflecting the events that took place

Hope that helps, but please just come back to this thread if you have any more questions.