Employment > Disability. Employer won't make Reasonable Adjustments. I might be fired

[ULA]

Yes by post but it needs to arrive by the deadline. You can also check with your local Tribunal office whether they will accept email with the ET1 attached.

[Avery]

Yes by post but it needs to arrive by the deadline. You can also check with your local Tribunal office whether they will accept email with the ET1 attached.

Thank you. I managed to get through to them. The guy said it was ok for me to add all my documents together into one PDF.

I can now submit my claim online. The deadline is today.

I think I just have one question before I submit my claim... which is about my Schedule of Loss. I want to charge my employer for all the Relapses that happened to me during my rehabilitation, because they forced me to 'race' to get well within a fixed timeframe. This caused several relapses.

I have put the total cost for the 7 relapses: £5,000. I have described them as causing ' indirect harm '.
Some I have charged less money, but others I charged more because the relapse was more severe and painful.

I would be very grateful if you could please share your view on this?

[ULA]

Your SoL needs to be based on what a tribunal can order your employer to pay you if you win a claim for discrimination, A tribunal can order an employer to pay compensation for:

• any money you have lost due to the discrimination - known as financial loss and covers loss up to when you are likely to get a new job if you have lost your job
• hurt or distress you have suffered because of the discrimination - this is called 'injury to feelings'
• a personal injury, such as depression or a physical injury, caused by the discrimination
• particularly bad behaviour by your employer - often called "aggravated damages"

[Avery]

Your SoL needs to be based on what a tribunal can order your employer to pay you if you win a claim for discrimination, A tribunal can order an employer to pay compensation for:

• any money you have lost due to the discrimination - known as financial loss and covers loss up to when you are likely to get a new job if you have lost your job
• hurt or distress you have suffered because of the discrimination - this is called 'injury to feelings'
• a personal injury, such as depression or a physical injury, caused by the discrimination
• particularly bad behaviour by your employer - often called "aggravated damages"

Thank you again Ula.

I have submitted my claim now.

Re "a personal injury, such as depression or a physical injury, caused by the discrimination" I used the latest Vento Band to approximate the figure (£) for this:
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Vento-bands-presidential-guidance-April-2022-addendum.pdf

I also referenced two case laws to back up the 'indirect harm':

McGhee vs National Coal Board (1972)
Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd & Ors (2002)

I would like to thank you for all your help. Much appreciated

[Avery]

Update: I was informed that my claim was accepted by the court on 31 Jan, and that my former employer would also receive a copy of my claim, and they would have 28 days to respond.

Their deadline was 28 Feb. Looking online I noticed that my case was updated on 28 Feb, but when I click on my case to see the details - there are no updates (no ET3, etc).

So, I phoned the court today, and the woman I spoke to confirmed that the respondent has not submitted an ET3 within the deadline, and therefore this would be handed to the judge. She also explaned that they have a backlog, so the judge hasn't been handed this yet.

I have to say I am astonished to hear that no ET3 was submitted !!!

[ULA]

Just a couple of words of caution.

1. There may be a request for an extension that has already been submitted by the respondent that is being considered and for which you may be informed to give your response.
2. The respondent may still submit a request for extension albeit late.
3. The Judge can order that the ET1 be served again on the respondent.

[Avery]

Just a couple of words of caution.

1. There may be a request for an extension that has already been submitted by the respondent that is being considered and for which you may be informed to give your response.
2. The respondent may still submit a request for extension albeit late.
3. The Judge can order that the ET1 be served again on the respondent.

Thank you. The woman I spoke to at the court had a thick foreign accent and didn't seem to have a very good vocabulary. If I had bought something from a shop and needed to ask for a refund this wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest.

However, seeing as she was updating me about my case, I found this frustrating. I had to ask her the same questions several times just to get an intelligable response, so I still didn't feel very reassured by the end of the call.

I think I will phone the court again soon and see what they say.

[Avery]

Update: I have since phoned the court again and I spoke to someone else. The guy confirmed that the respondent did actually submit an ET3 on time, and after this has been shown to the judge I will receive a copy, probably in the next 1 or 2 weeks.

I will post here again when I have my copy of the ET3.

[ULA]

Thank you for the update and please come back to this thread if you have further questions once you receive the ET3.

[Avery]

Thank you for the update and please come back to this thread if you have further questions once you receive the ET3.

Hi Ula, my case has heated up again.

I can now see the defendent's ET3 and written defense. They are refuting just about everything, along with refuting that they issued me with a blanket 'no home working' policy.

The judge has ordered me to write a short statement (max 1500 words) about my disabilities and send this to the Judge and the Defendent:
1. When they were diagnosed
2. Any treatment i have received for them
3. Their effect on my ability to carry out normal day to day activities

I also have to send to the defendent only – copies of any documents or medical records that refer to the conditions, their diagnosis or treatment.

... I have to send all of this info by 4 July.

The defendent then has two weeks to declare whether or not they concede that i am disabled.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

What I lack is a statement from a physician stating that my bad back is a 'disability' as defined by the EqA.
So, I am now going to try to get these ::

NEW Medical report 1 ::
There is a GMC registered doctor who is prepared to write a statement for me. Though I think I have only seen him once, and this was just 2 weeks before the date of my dismissal (Sep 2022).

... So, i am concerned that the doctor will only be able to date his diagnosis on this date, which might not be early enough to satisfy the Tribunal.

NEW Medical report 2 ::
I can possibly also get another physician (possibly not GMC registered) to state that he saw that i was disabled from when i was first ordered to stop working by my employer (Oct 2021). This is when he would have first diagnosed me, albeit without yet seeing the MRI report (dated March 2022). This second physician did see me on a regular basis during my forced absense from work, including shortly after receiving my MRI report.

My concern is that both of these new medical reports will be dated for this month (May / June 2023), long after I was dismissed. So my former employer will not have been able to see any of these reports before dismissing me.

Q :: Will these late medical reports (written and shown to defendent now / Post-dismissal) help me be recognised as having a protected characteristic (disabled)?


Thank you for reading.

[ULA]

My comments on your two medical reports are:

Medical report 1

You are correct the Dr will only be able to reference the one time he saw and given the time that has elapsed I hope he kept good notes of his consultation with you to be to provide a through enough report on your medical condition.

Medical report 2

You need to check whether the person was registered during the period you were under their care as my understanding is that doctors are legally required to be registered with the GMC or eligible for registration in order to practise medicine in the United Kingdom.

[Avery]

My comments on your two medical reports are:

Medical report 1

You are correct the Dr will only be able to reference the one time he saw and given the time that has elapsed I hope he kept good notes of his consultation with you to be to provide a through enough report on your medical condition.

Medical report 2

You need to check whether the person was registered during the period you were under their care as my understanding is that doctors are legally required to be registered with the GMC or eligible for registration in order to practise medicine in the United Kingdom.

Thank you, Ula.

Re: Medical report 1 ... I believe he kept excellent notes on my initial consultation.

Re: Medical report 2 ... He is not GMC registered now, but I believe he was when he made his initial diagnosis.

Will this be sufficient? – a medical report dated today (while not GMC registered), referring to a historic diagnosis (that was made while GMC registered).

I think you're right about needing to be GMC registered for this purpose. A physio I spoke to expressed that his opinion wouldn't amount to much.

As always, very much appreciated

[Avery]

Update :: I still have some time to gather my medical evidence, so I haven't completed this just yet.

However, ACAS has asked me whether I am interested in settling 'out of court'. And if so, they asked if i would be happy for this to be conveyed to my former employer (defendent).

I told ACAS that I am open mined to settling out of court, but ACAS have now asked me if I have a £ figure.

If I settle out of court, my intention is to ask for a lot more money than I would receive if I won my case in the Tribunal. However, I am now concerned that if I told ACAS how much this £ would be, ACAS might consider this to be unreasonable.

Q :: Is there a downside to asking for high £ figure to settle out of court, when going through ACAS?

... If this was the case, I would rather negotiate the £ figure directly, but I won't do this if going 'around' ACAS undermined my claim.

Any guidance on this would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

PS: I have read this thread to get a clearer picture of this process, but I think i still need a bit more info on this:
https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...45#post1626345

[Avery]

My comments on your two medical reports are:

Medical report 1

You are correct the Dr will only be able to reference the one time he saw and given the time that has elapsed I hope he kept good notes of his consultation with you to be to provide a through enough report on your medical condition.

Medical report 2

You need to check whether the person was registered during the period you were under their care as my understanding is that doctors are legally required to be registered with the GMC or eligible for registration in order to practise medicine in the United Kingdom.

Good news. I have submitted my evidence and the defendent has conceded all my disabilities.

... Next is the PH (Preliminary Hearing). Does LegalBeagles have any guidance for this please?

[ULA]

A Preliminary Hearing (PHR) is not a full hearing and the purpose for this hearing is to enable the tribunal to understand the basis of the claim and defence, identify the issues and set appropriate case management directions to help both you and the respondent prepare for the final hearing. If required then only a minimal bundle is prepared as there are very few papers/documents that have been exchanged between the parties at this time. The hearing can cover:

* Date and time of the final hearing
* Estimated length of the final hearing
* Witnesses to be called and documents to be disclosed
* A timetable for exchange of statements and documentation.

Prior to the PHR both parties are usually required to complete a Case Management Agenda, which is sent out by the Tribunal in advance of the hearing and must be submitted no later than 2 days before the hearing unless Ordered otherwise. I have uploaded this for you, so you can start to think about what to include to complete it. Both parties are encouraged to agree the agenda but if this cannot be done, then each will submit their own version.