Employment Tribunal amendment help needed!

[jeNy123]

Hello all,

I'm a newbie to this forum and would greatly appreciate it if someone could help me with the situation explained below. I entered a Tribunal with my current employer for racial discrimination and unlawful deduction of wages case. I'm a litigant in person.

On 3 March, I applied for an amendment to my claim to add the new evidence I found and provide more detailed reasons for the indirect discrimination claim. On 24 April, the respondent rejected my amendment. On 14 June, the judge agreed with some of the points that the respondent made, saying that my amendment came with a delay and lacked explanation.

The reason for the delay was because I wanted to wait for a positive outcome of Judicial Mediation, as this might mean that I did not need to apply for the amendment. At my workplace, many employees were able to settle with the employer right before the JM. So I was hoping the same. But it did not happen to me. I had the JM on 9 March. But at the same time, I wanted to apply for the amendment before the JM so that the respondent would be aware of what else I was going to add to my claim so that it could make a fair decision for the mediation.

Here are my questions to anyone who's got a similar experience.

1) The ET still did not respond to me on how I can challenge their decision to reject some of my amendments. Will an email to the Tribunal enough?

2) When the Respondent sent their reasons for the refusal, it was addressed to the judge and I was copied in. As the letter was addressed to the judge, I was waiting for the judge to come to be with the deadline of when I needed to respond to the Respondent's letter. However, there was no reply from the judge about this and instead, the judge made up her mind without my response to the respondent's letter. I thought I would only need to respond when there was an order from the tribunal, as I was advised that it's only the Tribunal who can decide any sort of deadline. But it seems clear that I was ill-advised. Will the judge accept my reasons for the delay?

3) I've noticed that the judge's recollection of what I said during the Preliminary Hearing is incorrect and I can prove that. As the recollection was used as her basis of some of the rejections, I feel it's important to correct it but at the same time, I'm concerned whether or not I am going to antagonise the judge. Can someone advise me on how I can address this misunderstanding politely to the judge?

Many thanks for spending your time to read my message and sincerely hope that someone could help me with the above answers!

Best wishes!

[ULA]

In answer to your questions:

1. Generally the Tribunal do not expect a response to the response, however if you had wanted to send one you should have made sure you did so quickly, in which case you should have informed the ET, by telephone, that a response was on its way. This would have avoided a judge deciding on the application without seeing your response.

2. Depending on what the timescale is since you were notified of the Judge's decision on your application, then maybe a call into the Tribunal to ask whether there is anything that can be done. I think your best defence will be that as a litigant in person you are not 100% sure of the Tribunal processes.

3. NEVER antagonise the Judge. If you do get the opportunity to put in a response then you will have to be very careful how you set out your objection and research what legal principles you use to support your case.

[jeNy123]

Many thanks for your reply.

Re informing the ET, they've never been good at replying to emails or picking up the calls since last year. There were times that I was on the phone for over an hour without being able to talk to anyone. I ended up going to the ET in person during COVID restriction time because they never replied to emails.

As soon as I got the ET's response last week, I let them that that I have an objection to some of the decisions that were made and asked about how I address this. Again, no reply to this request either. I guess I will have to write a letter just setting out the reasons for my objection as politely as possible then.

[jeNy123]

hi there,

I recently applied for an amendment to claim to re-label some of the already pleaded claims and asked for a PH due to the fact that we've got a full hearing in four weeks time.

The Respondent refuses the amendment and asks the judge to make a decision without a preliminary hearing.

Is there any case law or legal guideline that I can use to argue that there has to be a hearing rather than written submission?

many thanks for your help in advance!

[echat11]

What was the Tribunal's response to your request? I think you need to put aside what the Respondent wants.

https://assets.publishing.service.go...1/t425-eng.pdf

ULA

[ULA]

Is this the same Tribunal Hearing for which you have started this thread?

Employment Tribunal amendment help needed! - LegalBeagles Forum

In which case I will need to merge the threads together as it is more helpful for those of us providing advice on an ET claim to have all issues related to it on the same thread.

[echat11]

Is this the same Tribunal Hearing for which you have started this thread?

Employment Tribunal amendment help needed! - LegalBeagles Forum

In which case I will need to merge the threads together as it is more helpful for those of us providing advice on an ET claim to have all issues related to it on the same thread.

Thanks ULA. I should have spotted that.

[jeNy123]

Yes, it's the same claim.

To answer @ ECHAT11's question, the Tribunal hasn't replied to my request yet.

The reason for asking PH is because I can better respond to the judge's question. With the lack of knowledge about the law, (I'm a litigant in person), I won't be able to put all possible arguments in written submission without being asked questions. The Respondent resists a PH because they claim that the cost of doing the hearing will be disproportionally high. They're a well-known media company.

[ULA]

Having now merged your threads and still having very little substantial detail of I have the following questions:

1. From your post #1 there has already been a Premlinary Hearing (PHR) can you confirm this is the case? If so and given you have a final hearing in 4 weeks I am trying to understand why you want to make an application for another PHR?

2. When were you provided the questions from the Judge and do you have a deadline in which to submit them?

3. What stage are you at with the exchange of documents and witness statements for the final hearing?

[jeNy123]

Hello everyone.

I'm in an urgent need for some help.

My application to amend my existing claim ( re-labelling excessive) was rejected due to the fact that it's made too close to the full-hearing, which is coming up in early October.

Given the importance of what I was trying to re-label, I'm keen to find out how to make sure it'll be a part of the claim.

Here is my question, if anyone could help me with.

I think I have two options. One is to appeal against the decision not to grant the amendment application. The other option is to trigger a new claim.

I'm aware of time limits and other restrictions.

which option is better in terms of use making sure what I really wanted to re-label will be determined at the full-hearing.

I'm aware that the new claim might mean we'll have to postpone the full-hearing and the Respondent will reject it. But I think once I started this difficult journey, it'd be a waste of time and effort if the heart of my issues aren't being determined at the hearing.

if anyone has a similar experience, please do let me know via DM.

Many thanks for your help in advance!

[echat11]

Here's some information (posting for article) - https://littletonchambers.com/a-stri...ment-tribunal/

[jeNy123]

echat11 thanks for the article, which is very useful. So it seems that a new claim can be brought to amend the existing claim. Am I reading it right? I this case, I wonder which is better for a claimant? appeal against the refusal to the amendment decision or a new claim.

My preference will be a new claim, as I think it's simpler and can ask the ET to join the new claim with the existing claim since they're based on the same series of events I am complaining about. Am I right in thinking this way?

[echat11]

echat11 thanks for the article, which is very useful. So it seems that a new claim can be brought to amend the existing claim. Am I reading it right? I this case, I wonder which is better for a claimant? appeal against the refusal to the amendment decision or a new claim.

My preference will be a new claim, as I think it's simpler and can ask the ET to join the new claim with the existing claim since they're based on the same series of events I am complaining about. Am I right in thinking this way?

JENY123 You really need to keep to the original thread. There is always a context to asking questions, Once you start a new thread that context might get lost because the full story isn't posted on the new thread. I've changed the link as it's relevant to employment matters.

As ULA was providing excellent advice, it's best to wait for further advise.

[echat11]

https://www.lawclinic.org.uk/wpstrat...mend-ET1-1.pdf

[ULA]

I have merged both threads together as it is very difficult to ensure consistent advise if there are multiple threads running on related issues.

Please stick to this thread jeNy123 for anything related to your Tribunal claim.