Employment Tribunal help needed.

[CymraegAnt]

In April 22, a general manager asked to see me after a shift. I went upstairs and sat in an open walkway whilst the GM asked away. Some of the questions were work related, some were comparisons in time taken on different delivery routes. My north Wales route and 2 south Wales routes. He asked why the difference? He proceeded to question my use of using the toilet in work time, why I arrange my delivery documents in a different way to others. The petty list goes on.

Mid April I had a slight incident in my van. A side bumper caught a stone wall and dislodged a stone. A part of the bumper came off the van (cost to replace £14.95) but the wall ownerhad a builder friendwho wanted to charge £600 to repair the stone. This quote was questioned by myself and I offered to get my own quote. This was not appreciated by the company. Their T&C's state if damage is over £250, I pay the £250 excess and the insurance pays the rest.

In May, a delivery item wasn't on the van when I got to my penultimate drop. I reported " not on van" as normal. A few days later, I was questioned about the non-delivery of the stock. I gave truthful statements stating I couldn't remember the stock being loaded in the morning,. The company contacted all other drops on that day, to see if the stock had been delivered elsewhere. Every company said "no".

Having taken statements from all loaders, pickers and packers, the company contacted their external HR company, instead of quoting the statements verbatim, he altered one from his supervisor to suit his case. Supervisor said "couldn't remember as he loads 4-5 vans each day" GM told HR "supervisor was 'sure' they were loaded".
in July, an investigation into the 2 incidents was planned, without my knowledge. Upon returning to base, after a 14.5 hr shift, i was advised the interview would be held upstairs. I queried what it was for and I hadn't been informed. The meeting was adjourned. I asked if I may bring legal representation to the meeting? The MD declined my request but asked me to sign the meeting notes. I checked and the refusal wasn't written down. I questioned this with the note taker (MD's spouse and director) and when it is noted, I would sign. The MD screamed at her not to note it. He then deniel the refusal, and said he didn't reply. I asked the note taker to documents the 'no reply' instead. He again told her not to note it, and asked me to sign the meeting notes. I refused as it wasn't an accurate reflection of the meeting. He told me to leave the office if I won't sign. I left. Upon my return home, I received an email and txt bot stating "To confirm, I am entitled to legal representation at the new disciplinary hearing. They were tacitly accusing me of theft without proof.

The hearings took place 26/7/22 and the outcome came guilty. I obviously appealed against the decision.
On 31 July 22, Inbetween the appeal request (27/7/22) and the appeal hearing (8/8/22) the MD deducted the £600 for the damage to the wall without any prior notification or reasoning. I went into work on 1 Aug and asked for my wage zlip, which was refused. I asked for a meeting with the GM, who obliged. At the start I asked him to sign for a SAR, on behalf of the MD, he looked puzzled, so I explained what it was. He declined to sign and accept it. He wouldn't answer any questions regarding the 'Theft' from wages and why they were tacitly accusing me without any proof. Again he just looked blank, like a fish out of water.

On 3 Aug, i received my wageslip by recorded delivery showing the deuction. I kicked off as it constituted a 42% deduction. Every question asked and every request for information was ignored. UNTIL...
I visited the owner of the wall, and asked why the £600 was deducted? She was shocked as the company hada) told her the quote had been lost/misplaced AND a cheaper quote of £180 had already been sent. I sent an email requesting this new evidence be provided (email), The company sent an email stating "due to recent correspondence, the £420 (£600-£180) would be repaidand can I contact them to arrange a repayment schedule for the £180?"
I received emails regarding the appeal process only. Untill the wall owner had sent the company and me an email stating they didnt want to get involved in an internal HR issue. The company then emailed me to state "the company has decided not to pursue the £600 and a repayment of the £600. Still no explanation or apology.
31 Aug the same £600 was re-taken, apparently their external payroll company admitted they deducted the money "without instruction from the company".
Again I kicked off as it is downright THEFT. The money has been repaid but the emotional impact of their action has been sizeable.


Am I right in suggesting there have been repuditory breaches and I have been subjected to detriments?

Can anybody advise any further for me as I am representing myself and the company has now enlisted their external HR company to represent them in court.

There is also a small matter of withholding my holiday pay, I think I have that covered.

[CymraegAnt]

I'm having a bit of a 'mare with my bundle. Any help, suggestions or templates available?

[ULA]

What is actual ET claim you are making?

[CymraegAnt]

Hi, first and foremost, I am claiming unpaid holiday pay.
I also claim loss of earnings due to stress caused by the illegal actions and detriments by my previous employer..
My bundle has to be in by 16 Jan.. Their ET3 has to be submitted by the same time.

[ULA]

It sounds like you have not left your employer, did you resign?

What are the illegal actions that you are claiming?

I am a bit confused as to why you have to submit a bundle when the ET3 response has not yet been received by the Tribunal?

When were you given an order by the Tribunal to submit a bundle by 16 Jan?

[CymraegAnt]

Hi.
I received my CMO on 19 Dec. I have 4 weeks from then to provide my bundle.
My contract ended on 17 September due to seasonal work and cost of living crisis. The company a week after notification of contract ending had an advert for the same job, routes and hours, but denied it was my old job.
They broke their covenants so trying for loss of earnings due to the stress they caused in the illegal deduction, not providing a wage slip, failing to reply to requests for information, no acknowledgement of the theft, no apology and their illegal disciplinary processes.
They withheld my holiday pay from my final wage.
Being tacitly accused me of stealing without proof (according to my appeal decision letter. "The MD doesn't need proof, it's an internal employment matter. "
4 people involved in the process but only me disciplined.
Failing to comply with a SAR.

Hope this helps. The bundle is so time consuming and stressful as it is.

[CymraegAnt]

BTW, I start my 1st job tomorrow, since 17 September, as their covenants restricted my ability to obtain employment locally for 3-6 months.
I stuck to my agreement in the covenants, they didn't .
The wall still hasn't been repaired.
The MD knows his own covenants and deliberately took too much. It's THEFT. (Intentionally taking someone else's property with the intention of keeping it- THEFT"
If he had an "intention to return the money", Surely it's an intentional distress, both mentally and financially. 42% net wage.

[ULA]

Sorry I am still confused a CMO is not normally sent out until the tribunal has received the ET3 from the respondent and then a judge can review both this and your ET1 to then decide on how to progress with the claim. You have said that the ET3 is not due to the Tribunal until 16 Jan in your post #4

The CMO will typically say when the parties should disclose to each other the relevant documents in their possession, who should be responsible for compiling the hearing bundle, when witness statements should be exchanged.

I think it would be really useful if your anonymise the CMO that is take out the Tribunal hearing the claim, case number, your name and that of the respondent and any other personal or identifiable information and post it up on this thread.

[CymraegAnt]

Ok. I may be in way over my head, but here goes. Notice of Hearing & Notice of Claim-post.pdf

[CymraegAnt]

Notice of Hearing & Notice of Claim-post.pdf

[ULA]

Great thank you for posting that up very helpful and hope the first day on your new job went well.

So by next Mon you need to provide:

6.1 The detail of how much you are claiming in monetary terms and how you have arrived at the calculation
6.2 The documentary evidence that supports your claim.

So from from what I have gathered from your posts:

6.1 Needs to include the amount of unpaid holiday you are claiming and how you have arrived at this calculation, this would typically be the amount of holiday you were not paid x your hourly rate of pay.
Any other monetary loss you are claiming and again how you have calculated this sum.

6.2 Any documentary evidence that you have which may be emails, payslips etc that support the type of claim you are making and the calculations at 6.1.

Generally if this is forming your bundle then you need to paginated the documents and to do this I would suggest:

Page 0 is the contents page at the top of this set out the case number, claimant and respondent name. Underneath you then set out a table and populate as exampled below:

Item	Description	Page Number
1	Details of financial claim related to unpaid holiday and its calculation	Pages 1 - 2
2	Details of xxx financial claim and its calculation	Pages 3 - 5
3	Email from respondent to claimant re unpaid holiday (date)	Page 6
4	Email from claimant to respondent re stress of the situation (date)	Page 7-8

In order you then need to have the first set of pages making up point 6.1 then the pages following need to be relevant to 6.2 should be set out in date order.

Hope that helps you but if you have any further questions just come back and ask.

[CymraegAnt]

Hi ULA, and thanks for the info.
I'm about to try and arrange the bundle but have a question.
Once I have completed the contents page, financial breakdown and evidence , do I have to explain why I am using the evidence or just provide the documents?

[ULA]

The evidence should be self-explanatory but if not then it may be a good idea to add a brief explanation.

[CymraegAnt]

Thanks ever so much for the help, ULA. It has taken so much off my mind. I checked a previous thread of yours earlier in the week. They got onto tribunals and that thread helped too.
I contacted the court today, and The Respondent hasn't submitted their ET3 or asked for an extension extension. I gather most replies are submitted at the last minute.

one question: The Respondent’s legal team said they would get back in touch with me, once a case officer was designated. They haven't been back in contact at all. Is this normal? Or do they have a duty to let me know?

[ULA]

Technically by 16 Jan will mean that the Tribunal should receive it by 5pm on Mon.

Generally for an ET claim all correspondence goes directly to the relevant Tribunal and the clerk will deal with the administration and sending of any correspondence to the Judge and then back out to the respective parties. I am therefore wondering if they are meaning an ACAS case officer? I presume you went through Early Conciliation (EC) and there was an ACAS person appointed to the EC process. In your case this clearly did not result in any agreement hence the reason you are now pursuing an ET claim. Negotiation via ACAS can continue even once an ET claim has been filed but typically this would be the same ACAS officer who dealt with the EC.

Are you wanting to consider a reasonable offer to settle? If you are then there is nothing stopping you from contacting the ACAS officer and asking if an approach has been made by the respondent's solicitor and that you would consider a reasonable offer. Be prepared the officer is likely to ask you what that would be so you need to have a figure in mind and remember its a negotiation, so you may need to aim a bit higher to then settle downward to what you are actually looking for.

If you are not minded to settle then I would only chase the respondent's solicitor up on this if you really want to at this moment in time. You can always come back to ACAS at a later stage if you are so minded.