Help regarding delays from respondent

[Jojoxxx2001]

Hi
I'm new and would be grateful for any advice..
in brief I am taking my employer to tribunal for constructive dismissal. We have agreed a bundle which my employers solicitor has sent to me.
The court instructions were we should have exchanged witness statements 11 weeks ago.
I initially agreed to a 6 week extension as summer holidays were causing delays in them sorting statements but obviously we are now 5 weeks further along again and the respondents solicitors are still saying they are not ready. My employer was the xxx so large human resources department at their disposal
I sent a firm email asking them to agree another deadline of 30th November as it was still up in the air but now they are saying they want till 10th December.
Do I have to agree this do I have any other options open to me ?
thanks
Jo

[echat11]

Hi JOJOXXX2001

I think even if you object to it, the Tribunal will allow it.

But you could complain to the Chairman of the Tribunal, explain that an extension was given to the Respondent, that was 'ample time' for them to get ready and exchange Witness Statements Asking for a further extension is 'ridiculous' and they haven't come up with a reason for the extension. You'd like them to provide both, the Tribunal and you a 'valid' reason for the 'extension'.

ULA Can you take a look and advise, many thanks.

[Jojoxxx2001]

Thank you for your advice..its just so frustrating it just makes the deadlines provided by the tribunal worthless really. Their reason was "xxx pressures were delaying the witnesses" though of course they are already 11 weeks overdue.Thank you I'll look into complaining to the chairman

[echat11]

Thank you for your advice..its just so frustrating it just makes the deadlines provided by the tribunal worthless really. Their reason was "nhs pressures were delaying the witnesses" though of course they are already 11 weeks overdue.Thank you I'll look into complaining to the chairman

Let us know how your getting on. Keep a diary of incidents, filing late, extensions etc. Before the hearing you can provide those details to the Chairman / Tribunal. No doubt ULA will have some advice.

[Jojoxxx2001]

Thank you I will keep all my dates and emails around the problems I have sent an email saying I reluctantly agree to 8th December but not any further into December.
so glad I found the form.
on exchange is it by email at a set time of day?
And am I right in presuming its my statement aswell as witnesses

Thanks again in advance

[echat11]

a) on exchange is it by email at a set time of day?

The working day, to be on the safe side.

b) And am I right in presuming its my statement aswell as witnesses

Correct.

[Jojoxxx2001]

Thank you again a great help

[ULA]

Sorry I need to come in here on Tribunal process which is very strict about what you can and cannot do. You cannot just make a complaint to the "Chairman / Tribunal".

1. Can I just back-track are you at the stage of a final hearing and if so when is the date?

2. Was the date for the exchange of witness statements set by a Tribunal order? Typically it may have been a Case Management Order (CMO) and was that the date of 11 weeks ago?

3. Do you know how many witnesses the respondent is calling?

4. When you went back to the respondent did you make it clear this would be the final time you would accept a change of date?

[Jojoxxx2001]

Hi Ula

I have a 2 day hearing starting 15th March and I was sent this date and written case management orders back in May
The initial order for exchange of statements was by 6th September but the Solicitors for the respondent requested of me a 6 week extension due to "summer annual leave" I agreed to this no problem. But come 6th September they were still not ready quoting they still need to "finalise" a statement.
this was left then for a few weeks where this week we were now another 5 weeks further along (so obviously 11 weeks from the order)
I sent an email this week to the solicitor saying I wanted to set a new deadline as I did not want this hanging over my head in December.
I request we agree a deadline of 30th November giving then another 2 working weeks ...but they replied that they still may not be ready by then and requested 10th December

I'm so angry about it and do not want to be "mugged off" so to speak because I'm representing myself ...whereas obviously the xxx has a large human resources department and a good firm of solicitors.

I replied yesterday evening and said I was unavailable to exchange on the 9th or 10th December but I would "reluctantly agree" to the 8th December but no later

I'm not sure how many witnesses they are calling but I imagine no more than 5
Thank you for reading my post

[ULA]

Can I just ask that to maintain anonymity you do not give the name of your employer - I have edited your threads accordingly.

Exchange of witness statements 6 months before the date of the hearing is a bit far in advance from typical CMOs, as these are normally the last documents to be exchanged, which may be why the respondent is "dragging their feet" and extending the deadline. For your ease of mind requests for delays in exchange of documents is not unusual if there is still reasonable time for the documents to be reviewed.

I presume that the bundle has already been exchanged?

Hopefully the respondent will come back and agree to the new date of 8 December. If they do not or they again miss the deadline then the process you will need to go through is to make an application to the Tribunal to request that the respondent exchanges the witness statements. You will need to set this application out in quite a specific way and when you send it to the Tribunal you will also need to copy in the respondent.

[Jojoxxx2001]

Thank you Ula for editing my post I will not mention the employer in any future posts.

Thank you for the advice much appreciated...yes the bundle was received on time as per the order

[ULA]

Glad they complied with the CMO for the bundle.

See what happens about the witness statement exchange and if you need any further assistance such as help to make an application to the Tribunal, if needed, then just come back to this thread.

[Jojoxxx2001]

They have come back to me and accepted the 8th Dec as a deadline...but have also.on the same email sent another 15 documents for the bundle...and they said they may have a few more which obviously means I have to add to my statement is this normal practice?

Can I also ask ...in brief part of my case is around lack of support to do my job aswell as not maintaining my health and safety....a huge amount of the evidence they have in the bundle was implemented after my resignation ...and some only implemented because I went to ACAS to start this process.

Is the evidence put forward after my resignation relevant?

If they tried to put some of the things right during Early conciliation...would the judge feel I should have stayed?

Thanks again for this

[efpom]

If my understanding is correct, it is not open to the parties to agree, between themselves, to extend any deadline given in an Order. They may agree between themselves to ASK the court to vary the deadline in the original Order.

[ULA]

Parties can agree between themselves to exchange documents after the deadline given in the CMO, particulalry as in this case, the timescales still give both parties adequate time to review the documents prior to any hearing.

Where the application to the Tribunal comes into play is if one party does not agree to a delayed exchange, exchange does not happen and there is no contact from the other aside or attempt to agree a new date, or as may potentially happen in the case of Jojoxxx2001 who as agreed several extensions and now wants to draw a line under this if this next deadline is not met.

Jojoxxx2001 in answer to your post #13 yes further documents can be added into the bundle. Disclosure of documents is an ongoing process even if some documents come to light after exchange but in advance of the hearing.

I think the way to handle the " huge amount of the evidence they have in the bundle was implemented after my resignation ...and some only implemented because I went to ACAS to start this process." wil be in your witnesss statement by referring to the documents submitted stating that these were not in place prior to your resignation.