Employment Tribunal advice

[ULA]

Was the Grounds of Resistance (DoR) provided before or after your improved Particulars of Claim?

[Snyper86]

Was the Grounds of Resistance (DoR) provided before or after your improved Particulars of Claim?

This was provided before I provided the improved Particulars of Claim. The only Grounds of Resistance the Respondent's lawyers provided was with their ET3 Response form to the Tribunal and it was very boiler plate basic of "the Respondent denies that..." or "The Respndent does not admit that the Claimant suffered..." for each claim.

When the ET ordered that they make any request by a certain date, they requested better Particulars of Claim, which I submitted months back and since we have received preliminary and hearing dates and other dates. As I work full time and I am not represented, I was hoping they would provide their updated Grounds of Resistance so that I have the time to go through it and select all relevant documents, etc for the bundle.

[ULA]

Prior to the preliminary hearing (PHR) both parties will be asked to complete a case management agenda which I have uploaded to this thread. Point 2.2 asks "Is there any application to amend the claim or response? If yes, write out what you want it to say."

You can use this to request an update to the Grounds of Resistance (GoR) to respond adequately to the updated Particulars of Claim. You will need to prepare your reasons for requesting this in order that you can support this submission when this point is covered by the Judge at the PHR

[Snyper86]

Prior to the preliminary hearing (PHR) both parties will be asked to complete a case management agenda which I have uploaded to this thread. Point 2.2 asks "Is there any application to amend the claim or response? If yes, write out what you want it to say."

You can use this to request an update to the Grounds of Resistance (GoR) to respond adequately to the updated Particulars of Claim. You will need to prepare your reasons for requesting this in order that you can support this submission when this point is covered by the Judge at the PHR

Thank you very much for explaining this @ULA. I have printed out the preliminary hearing document you sent, this is very helpful thank you.

Is it a good enough reason to say that I need to know the specifics of their defences in order to know what document to include in the bundle
to ask for an updated GoR? Quite honestly I want to know their defense so that I can defend against it and have the facts and evidence against their defence ready in the bundle. All my evidence are in document format and emails and there are thousands of these.

Also 2.2. say that I can apply to amend the claim. I submitted my claim to the ET in August 2021, I want to make the following ammendments:

1. Add more claims to the claims I already submitted for that time period which came to light after I received my SAR request in March 2022, which was after submitting my claims to ET.
2. Since I submitted my claim to ET my employer has continued the actions which are in my claims and caused further similar issues, e.g. discrimination, victimisation and more unlawful deductions to my pay and their latest trick is even worse as they are threating to terminate my employment over things that are not my fault but manufactured by them, like not attending meetings I was never notified of.

I was in the process of putting all this together in the format of a Particulars of Claims and sending this to the ET with a cover letter explaning I am applying to amend the claims I have already submitted and to submit new claims relating to the claims I have already submited covering the time period from my application to ET to date.

I am I right to think that I should be adding to my current ET case and not applying for a new one?

Should I wait until the preliminary hearing to submit this application? Preliminary hearing is fixed for next year.

Also I have contacted ACAS regarding the latest issue with deductions to wages and their actions to push me to give notice or giving them cause to terminate my employment. ACAS adviced me to put it in a new application to them, which I did and ACAS is trying to mediate but my employer are not responding. I expect I will get a new ACAS certificate number in a couple of weeks so that I can apply to the ET. But all the recent development relate to and is only a continuation of the claims I already submitted to the ET.


Thank you so much for your help and your time.

[ULA]

From your latest post you say your PHR is set for next year but when exactly?

In terms of you wanting to have more detail, if you feel is has not already been provided in the ETS and GoR then 2.3 of the Case Management Agenda (CMA) is where you can put this request.

In terms of amending your particulars of claim a tribunal can consider an application to amend a claim or a response at any stage of the proceedings and this can be made in writing or orally at a hearing. Depending on your answer to when the PHR is taking place may help resolve whether to deal with it now as a written request or include it within 2.2 of the CMA.

If you do get a further ACAS certificate number then you may need to speak to the Tribunal about whether as it is related to the current claim it can be "joined" together.

On what basis did ACAS advise "..... and their actions to push me to give notice or giving them cause to terminate my employment."

[Snyper86]

From your latest post you say your PHR is set for next year but when exactly?

In terms of you wanting it have more detail, if you feel is has not already been provided in the ETS and GoR then 2.3 of the Case Management Agenda (CMA) is where you can put this request.

In terms of a,mending your particulars of claim a tribunal can consider an application to amend a claim or a response at any stage of the proceedings and this can be made in writing or orally at a hearing. Depending on your answer to when the PHR is taking place may help resolve whether to deal with it now as a written request or include it within 2.2 of the CMA.

If you do get a further ACAS certificate number then you may need to speak to the Tribunal about whether as it is related to the current claim it can be "joined" together.

On what basis did ACAS advise "..... and their actions to push me to give notice or giving them cause to terminate my employment."

Thank you so much for your answer.

Preliminary Hearing is set for 27 January 2023,

ACAS did not give me any advice as such they said I could apply to ACAS as a new claim and the tribunal will then determine if the claims are related. I was also concerned about missing any time limits to submit my claims if I contact the tribunal to ask and they did not reply in time or if they did not think that the new claims should be added to the current claims, so I thought the safe bet was to apply to ACAS again.

Because the PHR is 4 months away, should I apply to the ET to amend and add to the claim?
I can wait until I get the 2nd ACAS certificate issued so that I can include it in the application and leave it up to the tribunal to join the claims. I'm thinking it gives the tribunal time to see if the hearing dates need to be pushed back and if necessary add more time to the hearing. The main hearing is over 3 days in June 2023. Is there a limit to the number of days for a hearing, this is all new to me and I though 3 days was a lot?

Thank you again for your time and expertise. It is very much appreciated.

[ULA]

You can certainly apply to the Tribunal to amend your claim once you have the 2nd ACAS certificate and hopefully you will have a response back by Jan. However, given the backlog in the Tribunal responding to anything, if you have not had a response by the time you have to complete the CMA for the PHR you can add it in again at 2.2, stating when you made the original application to amend.

There is no limit to the number of days (I know of ones that are scheduled for many more than 3 days) it is purely down to the complexity of the claim/s.

[Snyper86]

You can certainly apply to the Tribunal to amend your claim once you have the 2nd ACAS certificate and hopefully you will have a response back by Jan. However, given the backlog in the Tribunal responding to anything, if you have not had a response by the time you have to complete the CMA for the PHR you can add it in again at 2.2, stating when you made the original application to amend.

There is no limit to the number of days (I know of ones that are scheduled for many more than 3 days) it is purely down to the complexity of the claim/s.

Thank you so much for your response and advice. I'll get this sorted now and ready to send with ACAS 2nd certificate.

[Snyper86]

Hi,

I hope everyone is doing well and had a lovely Christmas. I would like some advice regarding filling the AGENDA FOR CASE MANAGEMENT AT PRELIMINARY HEARING for my Employment Tribunal case, please. I do not understand what I should put in:

"4.1 What are the issues or questions for the Tribunal to decide? It is usually sensible to set this out under the title of the complaints."

Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you.

[ULA]

What you need to consider are any factual and legal issues.

In the case of factual issues this should be on those things that are not agreed between you and the respondent i.e. the claimant says they were dismissed and the respondent that they resigned, that is a factual issue for the tribunal to hear evidence on and determine.

The legal issues are the legal tests, or questions, that a tribunal must ask itself in a particular case, and then determine the answers, having heard all of the evidence and legal arguments. Deciding on the legal issues can be difficult if you are unfamiliar with what is being asked. It does not necessarily require you to refer to the specific sections of legislation under which you are bringing your claim but you must be aware of the relevant legislation, and draw out from its wording the key legal tests or questions.

From your initial posts I note that one of your claims is disability discrimination so a couple of examples are:

1. At the relevant times, was the claimant a disabled person within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010. That is, did the claimant have a mental or physical impairment that had a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities?
2.If the claimant was disabled, did the respondent treat them unfavourably because of something arising in consequence of their disability. If so, was that treatment a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
3. At the relevant time, did the respondent know, or could it have been reasonably expected to know, that the claimant had that impairment with that effect?

You would need to do this as relevant for the other claims you are making.

Hope this helps in your completion of the document.

[Snyper86]

Hi,

I hope everyone is doing well and had a lovely Christmas. I would like some advice regarding filling the AGENDA FOR CASE MANAGEMENT AT PRELIMINARY HEARING for my Employment Tribunal case, please. I do not understand what I should put in:

"4.1 What are the issues or questions for the Tribunal to decide? It is usually sensible to set this out under the title of the complaints."

Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you.

Thank you so much for answering so promptly and explaining with examples. This helps me a lot. Thank you.

[Snyper86]

Hi, I have a question regarding witness statements. The ET case management orders has the following:

"The claimant and the respondent must prepare witness statements for use at the hearing. Everybody who is going to be a witness at the hearing, including the claimant, needs a witness statement."

As witnesses, I am calling the managers who carried out the actions of discrimination my claim is about to explain their actions, the HR representative to explain the grievance process and answer why they did not follow it in my case and also the Payroll and finance people to explain the deductions process to my wages and explain why they made unlawful deductions to my wages.

As they are basically the people I am complaining about, who is responsible for preparing their witness statements, me or the Respondent who has a team of lawyers?
And do I need to ask them to be witnesses and arrange for them to be at the hearing?

Many thanks for your continued help and support.

[ULA]

If you are wanting people to act as witnesses they need to be individuals who directly witnessed the incidences about which you are making the claim and can. It does not sound like these would be the correct witnesses for you and in addition as employees of the company and the roles that they have in the organisation it is highly likely that they will be witnesses for your employer. In which case it will be for you to prepare the relevant questions for any cross examination of these witnesses.

[Snyper86]

Hi, I have a question regarding witness statements. The ET case management orders has the following:

"The claimant and the respondent must prepare witness statements for use at the hearing. Everybody who is going to be a witness at the hearing, including the claimant, needs a witness statement."

As witnesses, I am calling the managers who carried out the actions of discrimination my claim is about to explain their actions, the HR representative to explain the grievance process and answer why they did not follow it in my case and also the Payroll and finance people to explain the deductions process to my wages and explain why they made unlawful deductions to my wages.

As they are basically the people I am complaining about, who is responsible for preparing their witness statements, me or the Respondent who has a team of lawyers?
And do I need to ask them to be witnesses and arrange for them to be at the hearing?

Many thanks for your continued help and support.

Thank you for explaining, I think I do not quite understand what a witness is. Does this mean that I can't call the people who did the actions to question them? Also, they are pinning a number of things on an employee who does not work there anymore, can I call him to give his statement as a witness? - I however have no idea how to find this person, cannot find him on LinkedIn or social media.

From my understanding of what you said above, I have actually no one who did not carry out/perform the actions I am complaining about. Even in meetings, I was on my own mostly with everyone working for the organisation and doing some form of action giving rise to my claims. I have been accompanied by a friend to a few of the disciplinary meetings for moral support only as I did not have a union rep and I did not trust any colleagues as they all work for the organisation, can this friend be a witness to what happened in these meetings?

Thank you for your help.

[Snyper86]

Amending claims to add new claims - how do I support this as they are likely going to say that I should have put these in my ET1

Since I submitted my claim to the ET, I have found out that I have grounds and evidence for more claims, e.g. I now fit the legal terms for being disabled because the issues caused by my employer have lasted more than a year and have substantially affected my day to day. I have also found information regarding another person of the same sex but different sexual orientation that I can use as a comparator for sexual orientation discrimination as they were treated correctly in a very similar situation to me. I am putting this as amending my claims to add these new ones in the Agenda for Preliminary in the relevant section.

The Respondent has already said that they will oppose any new claims being added. So I am guessing I need to support my application with good reasons to allow the claims.
I have no idea what would be good supporting evidence/reasons to add the claims, if you have any examples or pearls of wisdom here I would be very grateful. I am happy to be pointed in a direction and do some reading/research. Because the disability claims will make a huge difference to any award.

As previously discussed on this thread, my employer also continued the same behaviour I brought the ET claim about after I brought claims, e.g. unlawful deductions, discrimination, etc. I have applied to the ET as a case with a new ACAS certificate and have asked the ET to consolidate both claims which will be discussed in the Preliminary, the Respondent is supporting this consolidation.