Employment Tribunal - Unfair Dismissal - Some Help Please

[Ra9JD]

Dear all,

I hope everyone is well.

I have been dismissed by a company whom I previously worked for, and have decided to take this up with an employment tribunal.

A brief summary: I was dismissed due to several allegations
I am also claiming for unpaid wages where I was given a salary rise that was not reflected in my pay.


We have both submitted our ET forms, and are at the stage where lists of documents have been submitted, and the company's representatives are preparing the bundle.


A few questions I have -
1. I would like to add to my reasons for the claim since submitting the ET1 - Due to the additional info received and some research conducted by myself. Is this ok? and when would I let the court know that I plan to amend my reasons for unfair dismissal?

2. The money I believe I was owed was calculated incorrectly and I wish to adjust this too. Is this possible/normal?


3. The company has refused to share certain docs that I feel are important for the tribunal. I have requested a document disclosure order - which the company has given their reason to why they do not wish to provide the documents. Is it 'normal' for me to counter their argument?


4. I believe I was manipulated by the customer in question. Should this be brought up now or is it irrelevant to the 'unfair trial'. I could potentially show that customer also attempted to manipulate the company (which I believe lead to the investigation in the first place!).

5. The customer's complaint would have had some impact on the nature and tone of the investigation, I did not know fully the nature of the allegations, and therefore the perception of the investigating managers. Would this hold any value?

6. They have requested an order from the court for this. How should I respond? I would not want to get my ex-colleagues in any trouble.



Many thanks in advance!!!

[ULA]

In answer to your questions:

1. Since your ET1 form has been sent, which should have detailed your claim in full, you cannot change anything on it unless you get permission from the ET, even if further information has come to light that was not apparent before. Whether the ET will agree to amend ET1 depends on what the changes are and their significance to your case.
2. In your ET1 if you did you not make a claim for unpaid wages or your calculation were incorrect then again see the answer to 1 above.
3. You have made the application to the ET in which you needed to have made it very clear as to why you wish the document/s to be disclosed and the importance of them to your claim. The respondent has the right to present their case to support the non-disclosure of them and it is then down to the ET to decide whether to uphold the application and send a Disclosure Order for the documents.
4. Have you exchanged Witness Statements (WS) yet? If not, then potentially you can cover these points in your WS, if it can form part of your chronological statement of facts regarding the events surrounding the claim you are making.
5. Again, this can be covered in your WS. This can be done by setting out that the full allegations for which you were being disciplined and which led to your subsequent dismissal were not fully provided to you, for which you could not then defend at the disciplinary hearing.
6. This is a reversal of point 3 above. You need to state your case for the fact of not disclosing the identity of the individuals concerned. If they are still employed at the company and are concerned about reprisals, then that needs to be your argument. Although for reference documents involving third parties ideally should be used with the person's permission.

[Ra9JD]

I am taking an ex-employer to a tribunal for unfair dismissal. The deadline for exchanging witness statements is due next week - the respondent's solicitor has emailed me asking me to agree a date early Jan as two of the witnesses are currently furloughed. They have said that should I not agree, they will simply make a request to the tribunal. I was willing to agree to this, however I am thinking if there is any benefit to me and my case if I do not agree. The date for the tribunal is 4 months away.

[ULA]

Can I ask whether this thread relates to your previous thread with the title of " Employment Tribunal - Unfair Dismissal - Some Help Please". If so I am going to merge the two threads as it makes it much easier for those of us providing advice to have all the relevant facts on one thread to ensure consistent help.

In regard to your above post, my view is that if the date of the tribunal is 4 months away it will still give you around 2 months to review the witness statements and prepare your cross examination. There are often situations were one party requests a later date for exchange of witness statements so not an unusual request and if adequate preparation time is still available it is better to mutually agree than have one party making the request via the Tribunal.

[Ra9JD]

Yes it is a part of the same case. I will bear that in mind for the future (use the same thread).
Many thanks for your advice

[ULA]

All merged so just use this thread if you have any further related questions

[Ra9JD]

Is there anywhere I am able to find a template for a WS and anything that it should include or should go with it?
TIA

[ULA]

Here is a template

[Ra9JD]

Regarding some text messages being used as evidence, the sender's names were redacted due to attempting to protect their identity as one is still employed by the employer being taken for the unfair dismissal. The judge/court has responded to the request made by the employer stating that the messages must be unredacted if it is to be used as evidence. In this case, is is possible for me to only share the identity with the judge and not the employer? Can I make this request? Or is my only option to either share the sender's identity or not use the evidence at all?

Thanks in advance

[ULA]

in the process for the Tribunal to make a decision on the application from the respondent, when you were copied into the request you could have submitted any objections to the person's identiy being made know to the respondent. If you did not do this at the time and the Tribunal has now made a decision then you have the options as you have already stated, share the identity or remove that evidence.

[Ra9JD]

Our hearing date has been postponed, and he do not yet have a new date. Where I had messages from 2 colleagues where confidentiality of my investigation was breached (1 is no longer working for the company and 1 is), I shared an unredacted copy of the messages from the colleague no longer employed by the respondent. I have asked the tribunal if the identity of the second colleague can be shared with the tribunal only and not the respondent, and if it MUST be shared with the respondent, when is the latest it can be shared in the chance that the case does not go to the hearing altogether.

I have not yet had a reply from the court, however the respondent has asked for it and given me a date when they expect to receive it, otherwise they will 'take it to mean' that I do not wish to rely on this and will remove it from the bundle. Am I in a position to say...'well I am waiting for directions from the court and I do wish to rely on this evidence and so do not remove it from the bundle' - or am I required to provide an unredacted copy as soon as possible?

Many thanks in advance

[ULA]

I believe I have answered the question in my post #10 bearing in mind you have confirmed in your post #9 that the Judge "has responded to the request made by the employer stating that the messages must be unredacted if it is to be used as evidence."

However if you have tried to raise an objection after the event have you copied the respondent into the correspondence to the tribunal as you are required to do?

[Ra9JD]

I believe I have answered the question in my post #10 bearing in mind you have confirmed in your post #9 that the Judge "has responded to the request made by the employer stating that the messages must be unredacted if it is to be used as evidence."

However if you have tried to raise an objection after the event have you copied the respondent into the correspondence to the tribunal as you are required to do?

I did copy the respondent in, it wasn't an objection as such, but more of can I share the identity with just the judge, or when will be latest I can share with the respondent just in case we do not get to the point of the hearing and there is no need to share their identity at all.

With the solicitor stating that they will take it as I do not wish to rely on that evidence, I would think that me saying that I do wish to rely on it, I am simply just waiting for the direction from the judge would be enough to tell them to keep it within the bundle

[ULA]

The judge has already made it clear that "the messages must be unredacted if it is to be used as evidence." This means if the name of the person is in the message then you cannot redact it if you want it to continue to be evidence.

The bundle being created is a combination of the respondent's and your evidence and therefore if there is a time deadline, as given in the Case Management Order for the production of the exchange of documents or the bundle being created and the Respondent is asking for a decision based on those timescales you may find you have a decision to make.

The hearing will get a new date, however that does not mean dates for certain activities to happen as directed by the CMO change as a consequence, they only get changed if agreed by both parties or an updated CMO is issued by the Tribunal.

That said, a brief email refering then to your correspondence to the Tribunal for which they were copied in and stating that you are awaiting the decision to confirm back to them whether or not you wish to rely on that evidence. You may also point out that as the hearing date has been postponed with no new date, could they agree an extension to whatever deadline is driving them to urge a response from you on this matter.