Been forced to resign - not handled correctly ? Do I have legal redress ?

[koryo]

A month ago I was called into the office for a 'catchup' - I had a funny feeling something was going on behind the scenes, as I was locked out of commercially sensitive network drive 3 days prior. Around 15 members of staff have been either sacked or walked in the past 18 months and the firm is very dysfunctional and ran by an irrational and paranoid board (of which I was a member!)
I was called in and told I had made some mistakes (first time I had been made aware of any of them) - largely spurious and made up reasons but the actual reason is I have been running my department so well and trained everyone up that they obviously thought the dept could now run on its own and they could save £100k per year by getting rid of me.
So they said in order to get my 3 months money paid that month I had to resign on the spot, and otherwise it would be a disciplinary and garden leave. I asked what I had done wrong and nobody could really tell me. (I recorded the entire meeting)
I wrote out the resignation at the meeting and have been paid my 3 months money, and have already moved on to new work.
My question is, do I have any recourse as I do not think they have behaved properly and surely it is not legal to pressure someone to resign on the spot for essentially no good reason ? This can't be legal surely ? Is it worth contacting a solicitor and would I be throwing my money away ?

[atticus]

How long were you employed by that company?

[koryo]

How long were you employed by that company?

Just over 3 years

[atticus]

In which case you have the right to claim unfair dismissal. I take it that you did not sign a settlement agreement.

IMPORTANT - you must file an unfair dismissal claim within 3 months LESS 1 day after the date on which your employment ended.

[koryo]

In which case you have the right to claim unfair dismissal. I take it that you did not sign a settlement agreement.

IMPORTANT - you must file an unfair dismissal claim within 3 months LESS 1 day after the date on which your employment ended.

thanks this is very useful, I wrote out my resignation there and then, and it was accepted there and then and the deal was 3 months pay paid at the end of Feb. No other documents were signed. What potential ££ could I get from a successful unfair dismissal claim ?

[atticus]

1. a 'Basic Award' which is calculated in the same way as a redundancy payment: https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-redundancy-pay

2. If you are earning less in your new job, possibly a 'Compensatory Award'.


None of this is any comment on your chances of success. You would be claiming constructive dismissal through being forced to resign.

[koryo]

thankyou this is really good to know, my final question(s) (sorry to keep bothering you with this!) but what would a a rough cost for legal fees be? and a timescale for sorting it out ? ie how long does it take?
Also what level of detail would the (judge?) go into - is it like a court case where evidence gets put forward from both sides ? There is no correspondence from the employer or conversations where my duties or performance was called into question and it really is just a stitch up to save the firm money.

[atticus]

That is something you ask a solicitor when you enquire if they might represent you.

DIY is possible.

And yes, it is similar to a court case.

[ULA]

Hi koryo I felt it important to set out a few things for you here to help you make any decision.

1. Firstly, without documentary proof, it will be your work against your employer that you were forced to resign and therefore you were unfairly dismissed.
2. Any compensation is as set out in post #6 from atticus which will be capped at £571 per week based on 3 years service and your age.
3. If you have mitigated your losses by already finding and starting work then any compensatory award would be based potentially on whether or not your new job is at a lower salary level than your previous job. An employment tribunal might increase your compensatory award by 10 to 25% if your employer did not follow the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary, again but this would be if you can prove you were forced to resign.
4. If you used a solicitor depending on who you instruct, you could be looking at upward of £250 per hour plus VAT. A relatively simple Tribunal claim could set you back several thousand pounds and you would be responsible for your own costs, it is rare that costs are awarded against the losing party.
5. You could be a litigant in person and the first thing you would need to do is submit an Early Conciliation claim via ACAS. If that did not result in a settlement then you would go on to make an Employment Tribunal claim via the completion of and ET1 which then goes to your ex-employer who has 28 days to respond. After that it does into the Tribunal process.
6. Currently with the backlog in the Tribunals, even for a simple claim if there was no settlement, then a hearing date is likely to be a minimum of 9-12 months away.

I am not being negative nor passing any view on the merits of your case, I am just setting out as briefly as possible what you would be facing if you did want to pursue a claim. That being said if you submitted Early Conciliation to ACAS that may prompt your ex-employer to the fact that they had not acted well in this matter and for them to try and agree a settlement with you rather than face an ET claim.

If you have any questions then please just come back to this thread.

[koryo]

Hi koryo I felt it important to set out a few things for you here to help you make any decision.

1. Firstly, without documentary proof, it will be your work against your employer that you were forced to resign and therefore you were unfairly dismissed.
2. Any compensation is as set out in post #6 from atticus which will be capped at £571 per week based on 3 years service and your age.
3. If you have mitigated your losses by already finding and starting work then any compensatory award would be based potentially on whether or not your new job is at a lower salary level than your previous job. An employment tribunal might increase your compensatory award by 10 to 25% if your employer did not follow the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary, again but this would be if you can prove you were forced to resign.
4. If you used a solicitor depending on who you instruct, you could be looking at upward of £250 per hour plus VAT. A relatively simple Tribunal claim could set you back several thousand pounds and you would be responsible for your own costs, it is rare that costs are awarded against the losing party.
5. You could be a litigant in person and the first thing you would need to do is submit an Early Conciliation claim via ACAS. If that did not result in a settlement then you would go on to make an Employment Tribunal claim via the completion of and ET1 which then goes to your ex-employer who has 28 days to respond. After that it does into the Tribunal process.
6. Currently with the backlog in the Tribunals, even for a simple claim if there was no settlement, then a hearing date is likely to be a minimum of 9-12 months away.

I am not being negative nor passing any view on the merits of your case, I am just setting out as briefly as possible what you would be facing if you did want to pursue a claim. That being said if you submitted Early Conciliation to ACAS that may prompt your ex-employer to the fact that they had not acted well in this matter and for them to try and agree a settlement with you rather than face an ET claim.

If you have any questions then please just come back to this thread.

thankyou for the information, it sounds like an expensive and lengthy process, I have completed the ACAS form and will see what comes of it, thanks again !!

[theberenger]

Firstly, without documentary proof, it will be your work against your employer that you were forced to resign and therefore you were unfairly dismissed.

Koryo mentioned in his original post that he recorded the entire meeting, presumably on a mobile phone or something.

I guess the question mark is over whether such a recording is admissible as evidence based on the recording having been made covertly (was it Koryo?) without the other attendees knowing they were being recorded.

[ULA]

theberenger covert recordings can potentially be be admissible as evidence at Tribunal however that will depend on any policies the company has in place in respect of such recordings at meetings. However there still needs to be other evidence relied on that gets presented as part of the initial ET1 claim if it gets that far.

[atticus]

On numerous occasions covert recordings have been held to be admissible in evidence, both in courts and Employment Tribunals.

EDIT: I have previously posted this link - https://collyerbristow.com/longer-re...ert-recording/

[koryo]

Koryo mentioned in his original post that he recorded the entire meeting, presumably on a mobile phone or something.

I guess the question mark is over whether such a recording is admissible as evidence based on the recording having been made covertly (was it Koryo?) without the other attendees knowing they were being recorded.

Hi there, I secretly recorded the conversation, which is a good job, because afterwards the HR director said I had been aggressive, which upon replaying the recording I had in no way been aggressive, and been very measured. They still don't know I recorded it.