Preliminary hearing

[realjustice]

Hi all

I am scheduled to have a preliminary hearing soon but the respondent applied for an extension and was granted this by the ET. However, the new due date for the ET3 response is now after the preliminary hearing date. I have written to the ET (a few weeks back) asking them if the preliminary hearing has been extended as well but I haven't heard back yet, I tried ringing them a few times with no success. I presume it has, as I have had no instructions for an alternative arrangement from the hearing which is due to be in person. Would appreciate some advice, thanks in advance.

[ULA]

It would be very difficult to hold a preliminary hearing without the ET3 having been submitted.*

The issue at the moment is that not all courts and tribunals are open at the moment and those that are may be running on skeleton staff.*

[realjustice]

Thank you Ula, these were my thoughts too*

[realjustice]

Hello

My preliminary hearing was scheduled for 6 May but was understandably cancelled. My former employer stated that they submitted an ET3 response and grounds of resistance on 8 May after being granted an extension and after my solicitors requested to amend my ET1, this was granted so an amended ET3 was submitted to the ET 9 June.

The ET has since informed me that a preliminary hearing is to be rescheduled but did not give a date, so I wrote back requesting both the initial and amended ET3s + grounds of resistance documents be forwarded to me in advance, to help me prepare for the hearing since I no longer have legal representation.

I have a suspicion that the original ET3 was sent to my solicitors as they came back forcing me to accept a much lower settlement that they originally claimed the case was worth and they used very specific reasons, such as the case was out of time and that I don't have the qualifying time to claim unfair dismissal etc. Even though they did not raise these as issues when they took on the case and said it had a good chance of succeeding.

So I spoke to a barrister who assured me there was a conduct extending over a period of time (to cover the out of time argument) and that the HMRC's letter confirming that I was indeed an employee in 2017 and official documents received from the respondent as early as 2015 (to cover the employee status argument) were enough to pursue with the case or negotiate a higher settlement.

Basically my questions are how long will I have to wait for the ET3, will I get both the original ET3 (submitted 8 May) and the amended one (submitted 9 June) and will the ET let me know whether the first ET3 was sent to my solicitors who said that this wasn't case after I opted not to carry on with them. I asked the ET all these questions but there's been no response for over 2 weeks now.

Thanks in advance.

[ULA]

There are three ways to tackle getting the ET3's and the grounds of resistance:

1. Email your employer or their representative, explain that you are now a litigant in person and that you are requesting all correspondence to be sent directly to you and not your disengaged solicitor and in the meantime can they sent you copies of the documents.
2. Chase up the Tribunal in regard to your correspondence 2 weeks ago - may be worth doing doing this by phoning them.
3. If you have paid all that is owed to the solicitor that was acting for you then you can go back and ask for a complete copy of the file on the matter which if they have copies of these documents should be sent to you along with everything else.

[realjustice]

Thank-you Ula, I have done No.3 already but I can tell there were missing documents from the discussions I've had with the solicitors previously, so I will now do No.1 too. Just out of interest, what is a reasonable waiting time for getting an ET3 from the ET and will they send you all the copies if there have been amendments? The Respondent's solicitors have refused to send me a copy of the initial ET3 and grounds of resistance, saying it's not up to them to and I must wait for the ET to get this.

[ULA]

Unfortunately there is nothing typical now as to how the Tribunals are operating. The operation of the Tribunal courts at the moment range from closed to skeleton staff, to more fully operational and it really depends on where the Tribunal court you have been assigned to sits on that range.

Suggest you try option 2

[Theaset]

It is really shocking news to delay of this hearing but authority can give more time to manage this hearing or contact them properly contact

[realjustice]

Thank-you, unfortunately my ET is one of the London ones and if I'm not mistaken, I think I read somewhere that they take longer than average time to deal with claims (Covid aside). I cannot think of what can the respondent say to defend what they did since they did not follow their own or the ACAS process from start to finish. They have withheld important documents from a subject access request I made on the basis that there is mentioning of legal proceedings in the documents, which will have to be disclosed to allow the case to proceed eventually.

I think it's frustrating that they are wasting the ET's time when I have asked for settlement that is below the real value of the claim (as confirmed by 2 different solicitors and a barrister) but they did not even offer half of what was asked for, saying they've done nothing wrong but wanted to settle for commercial reasons (a 5 figure sum).

Ideally, the ET should make a deposit order to the respondent but I cannot press for that I guess.