Seeking Advice for Complex Legal Situation - Anonymity Needed

[Electo21]

Hello,

I'm facing a complex legal situation that has left me feeling overwhelmed and anxious. I'm reaching out to this community in search of advice and guidance, but I must maintain my anonymity due to privacy concerns.

My situation has been ongoing for nearly a year and is expected to continue for an extended period. Regrettably, I've struggled to meet some of the court-ordered deadlines despite providing ample warnings and explanations for my difficulties. I'm deeply concerned about how this may impact my case and whether the judge will take my circumstances into account.

My challenges can be summarized in two critical aspects:

1. **Lack of Responsiveness/Refusal to Cooperate**: The other party is refusing to provide essential documents and evidence, which I know exists and, in some instances, directly refutes their statements. They've made several statements that are outside the scope of the case and are entirely false, which is damaging to my personal life. Despite multiple attempts to discuss these issues, they have not acknowledged or responded to my requests.

2. **Suspected Doctored Evidence**: There is evidence shared with me that appears heavily doctored. This includes photos that seem to be layered on top of one another and data that doesn't align with the shared "photos." Additionally, there are recorded conversations that suggest collusion both internally and with an external investigator. I also suspect a breach of my personal data.

My main concern is how to communicate these concerns to the tribunal privately, while still complying with the rules and without involving the other party. Previous attempts to address these issues directly with the other party have gone unanswered, faced resistance, and required multiple follow-ups. We have a hearing scheduled to discuss some of these matters, which the other party initially deemed unnecessary and requested its cancellation. I had to write once more to ensure it continues, as there are significant concerns that need attention.

The stress and anxiety stemming from this situation have severely impacted my mental health. I've experienced two breakdowns, relapsed into self-harming, and my doctor has placed me on suicide watch. I'm desperate for guidance and support to navigate this legal ordeal.

I've tried seeking help from various legal sources, including free services, no-win-no-fee lawyers, clinics, CA, ACAS, and fee-based attorneys. Unfortunately, I haven't had much success, and I can't afford the fee-based lawyers.

If anyone here has faced similar situations or can offer any insights, advice, or resources, it would mean the world to me. Please feel free to respond here or send me a private message if you can provide any guidance. I understand the limitations imposed by my inability to provide specific details, but any general advice or suggestions would be profoundly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and support.

[ULA]

From what you have said it is clear you are taking your employer or ex-employer to the Employment Tribunal and I guess the hearing you are referring to is possibly a preliminary hearing (PHR)?

You are not able to communicate to the Tribunal without copying in the other party to the correspondence this is in accordance with rules 30(2) and 92 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013.

If I am correct and your upcoming hearing is a PHR have you and the other party been asked by the Tribunal to complete a Case Management Agenda in advance of this?

[Electo21]

Hi ULA, thanks for taking the time to read and respond. We already completed a PHR and had Case Management Orders set, which I have complied with all except the most recent. An additional hearing was arranged because we were unable to agree on certain aspects and I requested the Tribunal's assistance.

I'm just, I'm really nervous to say more that could identify me as they have been periodically checking in on my personal and professional social media accounts as well.

Thanks for letting me know that I cannot communicate without including the other party.

I suppose my only option is to write another note to the tribunal with them in copy to highlight my concerns. Or should I wait until the upcoming hearing?

[ULA]

If you have concerns that full disclosure is not being undertaken by the respondent then you need to make an application to the Tribunal for disclosure. This would need to set out what you require to be disclosed, the reason how this helps with your claim and the efforts you have already gone to in requesting this from respondent. This would need to be copied to the respondent.

Alternatively as you have an upcoming hearing, have the Tribunal asked for a bundle to be produced, including a List of Issues?

[Electo21]

Thanks ULA, I'll work on drafting that up then. The upcoming hearing is to discuss the List of Issues as we were unable to reach an agreement on what should be included; they felt that some of what I want is irrelevant or hasn't been pleaded and even though I I went through and showed everywhere that I referenced the issues and they counter argued they still refused.

I've already flagged to the tribunal that they have not been responsive and were refusing to disclose certain documents and asked if that too could be included when I pushed for the hearing to be confirmed (the respondent wanted it cancelled as they felt it wasn't necessary).

I guess at this stage anonymity is pretty silly from me so if there is anything that you think I should share that could help you in offering any guidance (if any) please let me know.

The one aspect that I haven't complied with is the List of Evidence/List of Documents; I had reached out and followed up saying it would be difficult for me to compile my list without being able to see certain documents that they have in their possession - and they've categorically refused to give me those saying I need to only provide them what I have. I've explained, and they are aware that it is difficult for me to do this without having the requested items (because of a disability it makes it difficult for me to formulate a clear picture or understanding without having everything in front of me) I've been trying to do my best but I'd really need those documents before feeling comfortable sending a confirmed list; I shared the draft of what I was able to do.

I've followed up a few times on specific statements that they've made that are either entirely false and malicious or that contradict previous statements provided, asking for clarity or for them to withdraw - but they've ignored and not acknowledged it a single time. I've informed the tribunal of this and asked for it to be included in the upcoming hearing as one of the statements relates specifically to my children and has nothing to do with the case.This in particular, relating to my children is a majour trigger for me as one of my biggest fears is having my children taken away; which they and their client are fully aware of ... but still, nothing.

From what they have disclosed, there has been no evidence provided to support the claims against me apart from two statements that were provided 3-6 months after I had allegedly done what they are accusing me of. Both of the allegations were raised at the same time, by two individuals, but relate to two completely separate actions and accusations. Neither of which have any evidence apart from their witness statements, and conversations had just before and after the allegations were made where they and my boss were in discussions about how to word their statements.

I was on offered time off from my boss at that time to tend to my mental health as I was in a very bad place and had begun self-harming again. She pushed me to have the time away to which I hesitantly agreed and upon my return I was put into an investigation meeting. I asked for it to be recorded, she declined. She didn't inform me of the allegations in their entirety (the meeting lasted approximately 10 minutes), became upset when I asked for the evidence and said I had categorically not done these things. I brought up my own grievance I had raised prior to the time off, she said 'nothing' and I was told I would be put on suspension while they investigate. I said that was fine - they already have access to my emails since I've been away and to let me know if they need anything from my end. I was told to submit an official statement by the end of the day and to not speak to anyone.

I sent my statement and asked for a clear statement on the allegations brought forth as well as how long I would be suspended for and confirmation that I would be paid during the suspension. She said based on the evidence in front of her her 1-2 days, I would be paid and laid out an allegation (I'll learn in time that there were more made and this was only one). She followed up 3 days later saying they need to extend and shared a copy of the minutes, I responded asking for more clarity and highlighted that the minutes didn't reflect the meeting accurately; there was information on there that was incorrect, never shared with me (in the meeting or the follow up emails), or missing entirely and how I don't understand how this is meant to be a fair process. I received no response.

A week later I'm informed that an external investigator is being brought on to represent company and I should expect to be contacted. The end of the week comes and I've not been contacted, so I again send an email. This time I also highlight my previous grievance and state how I'd like it to be acknowledged and taken with as much seriousness as the current allegations against me have been. I state feeling discriminated, how my mental health was already fragile and has taken for the worse due to this. I state feeling treated unfairly and not equally to the rest. I receive an OOO stating she is on holiday and will get back to me on her return date.

Two days after her expected return from leave, she responds giving me the name of the external investigator (whom she has met previously and has a 'friendship' with) and has forwarded this on to her to pick up.

Eventually, I have my investigation meeting - 21 days after being suspended, I learn of (most - again, still not all) of the allegations against me and asked if I am claiming I didn't and X and Y are - why is this happenining, to which I repeatedly said I have no idea, I know Y has an issue with me and that's even why I I've been on leave because it's been really affecting me, my boss knew I was suicidal and I was self harming and pushed me to take the time away and this is what I've returned to. You have to ask them because I have no idea, to which the investigator responded saying that just doesn't make sense. I highlight feelings of discrimination and explain why and what exactly, I highlight that I've had 0 contact with anyone and my boss hasn't responded to me or offered any support or help, I state that I had still not been paid and I'd like to know if everyone else has also been waiting on their salary or if it was just me. She knew nothing of the background situations, the timelines, had done no investigating apart from speaking to the two people who brought forth the allegations and my boss. I said please, please just investigate me I'll give you my passwords, I'll send you anything you want - I didn't do these things, none of this makes sense. She said she would try to get back to me by the end of the week with an updated timeline as the investigation would need to be extended. I got fired the next day. I have this entire conversation recorded and have already shared with the Tribunal/ other side at the PHR.

My salary was not paid on time, it was not paid in the correct amount. There were significant deductions made from my final payment as well which I've only come to find now that the time she had offered to me was later charged from me once the allegations were brought forth. For reference, I had been away for nearly 2 weeks at that point, and only on the day that the allegations were made, was I charged for the time she had offered.

I submitted a SAR - which hasn't been complied with, disclosure is not being complied with.

Included in their disclosure was evidence of my boss and the investigator already aligning 17 days before even speaking to me on my dismissal and what to say, how it could be handled, what additional charges they could impose etc. There was never an investigation. No evidence has been provided to support any of their allegations.

The only things they provided really was focusing on my mental health, me taking days off because I was not well (all of which I had always marked immediately as either vacation leave or sick leave from myself after receiving approval) or reference of my children.

The things I am requesting directly relate to the case and categorically show that what I am saying to be fact and took place; but they are refusing on the reason of it being irrelevant and they will not be providing.

I hope this helps, I know it was long, I'm sorry. I just give up... Sorry if none of this makes sense

[ULA]

Can you let me know what:

1. What you were dismissed for?
2. The ET your claim/s you are making?
3. When did you submit the SAR and what information did you request?

[Electo21]

Hi there,

Here you go.

1. What you were dismissed for?

A. On the dismissal letter attached to an email entitled' investigation outcome' & again repeated in when refusing my right to appeal the dismissal: I am now in receipt of the investigation report and although you deny all allegations lodged against you there is enough mitigating circumstances that has demonstrated to me that I have lost all trust and confidence in you to undertake the highly confidential role of executive assistant. This has made you remaining in this role untenable for me. I have decided that rather than subject you and others to a disciplinary hearing I will rely on your contractual terms to terminate your employment namely clauses 2.1 (a) and 17.1. This give me the right to terminate your contract with 2 months’ notice.


B. To the ACAS conciliator: Gross Misconduct

C. On ET3 and Amended Grounds of Defence: The Respondent’s position is that the Claimant was dismissed due to the Respondent having lost
all trust and confidence in the Claimant. The Respondent instructed the commencement of an external investigation into the actions of the Claimant and this investigation concluded that the Claimant had committed gross misconduct

2. The ET your claim/s you are making?

- Race Discrimination
- Disability Discrimination
- Victimisation
- Unlawful deductions
a. wages
b. holiday pay
c. notice pay

3. When did you submit the SAR and what information did you request?

I submitted a SAR to the Respondent, the investigator and the company that I was initially hired to support alongside the Respondent/continued to support in an unofficial capacity, all 24-hours after I was dismissed (at the same time of my dismissal appeal). I requested:

I am kindly requesting you supply any and all personal data you hold about me, as per my entitlement to receive this data under the data protection law.

In particular, the data I am requesting may be held in or is in relation to:

- email communications between [my boss] and any employee of [the company] in relation to myself, [my name or role] during a time period of 01 September 2021 to present day, 02 November 2022

- email communications between any employees of [the company] in relation to myself, [my name or role] during a time period 01 September 2021 to present day, 02 November 2022

- any email communications between employees or contractors of [the company] in relation to myself, [my name or role] during a time period 01 September 2021 to present day, 02 November 2022

- documentation shared with, created by, held by, stored by, or managed by [the company] in relation to myself, [my name or role]during a time period 01 September 2021 to present day, 02 November 2022

- recorded video or audio shared with, created by, held by, stored by, or managed by [the company] in relation to myself,[my name or role]during a time period 01 September 2021 to present day, 02 November 2022

- MS Teams, Zoom, Whats App or any other messaging software transcripts, audio recordings, or video recordings used for business purposes by [the company]and its employees which mentions, discusses, and/or holds any personal data in relation to myself, [my name or role] during a time period of 01 September 2021 to present day, 02 November 2022

The ICO even followed up with them and they still refused to provide everything to me and I was advised to raise this to the Tribunal, which I have.

The investigator did not provide me with anything apart from finally sending the recording, which they tried to claim was IT issue and the other company did the same as my old boss and I was advised the same by the ICO; to raise it with the Tribunal

[Electo21]

Can you let me know what:

1. What you were dismissed for?
2. The ET your claim/s you are making?
3. When did you submit the SAR and what information did you request?

I had to send you a message because it wasn't allowing me to post for some reason

[EXC]

I had to send you a message because it wasn't allowing me to post for some reason

Your post was caught by our (sometimes quirky) spam filter so I've reinstated it.

[ULA]

Can you set out what the contractual terms were contractual terms at clauses 2.1 (a) and 17.1.

What stage are you at with your ET claim?

[Electo21]

Sorry I forgot to mention Failure to make reasonable adjustments - but I'm not sure if that's an issue or a claim, just looking through my notes to answer your questions.

My boss provided the investigator with a disciplinary policy that I didn't even know existed (I had been working on writing policies for her since late 2021 and had asked her for all the policies to work from there but wasn't provided anything and was told that there were none apart from our contracts).

The decision was made weeks before speaking to to not go to a full disciplinary, I never received a physical copy of my dismissal only as an attachment to the investigation outcome email.

Immediately following my meeting with the investigator an email was sent to the respondent requesting a phone call. The next day there is an email stating they are finalising the report and termination letter, that were shared together at the same time along with suggesting they be hired on to manage their HR needs moving forward and writing their policies.The investigator also wrote the refusal of dismissal appeal and SAR.

After I submitted my SAR the investigator and the respondent aligned on what they would not share and how since they used personal emails they aren't obligated to share my personal data on those emails. The investigator said, "we need a coordinated approach to his as she is intent on being a awkward"

I'm wondering if I am able to report them (investigator and respondent) to the ICO now that I have evidence of this instead of just my word?

Contractual terms:

2. Term of appointment
2.1 The Appointment shall commence on the Commencement Date and shall continue, subject to the remaining terms of this agreement, until terminated by either party giving the other the prior written notice as follows:
2.1 a. in the first five years of continuous employment: not less than two calendar month's notice (for the avoidance of doubt, the probationary period notice period is set out below at clause 2.2);

17. Payment in lieu of notice
17.1 Notwithstanding clause 2 , we may, in our sole and absolute discretion, terminate the Appointment at any time and with immediate effect by notifying you that we are exercising our right under this clause 17.1 and that we will make within 28 days a payment in lieu of notice ( Payment in Lieu ) to you. This Payment in Lieu will be equal to the part - t ime basic salary (as at the date of termination) which you would have been entitled to receive under this agreement during the notice period referred to at clause 2 (or, if notice has already been given, during the remainder of the notice period) less income tax and National Insurance contributions. For the avoidance of doubt, the Payment in Lieu shall not include any element in relation to:

ET:

We have a date set for the final hearing to take place over 5 days in late 2024.

Disclosure/List of Evidence was supposed to be completed last month, but that is still pending. Witness statements and the Index are due to be completed over the next two months.

We have not been able to agree on a a List of Issues so that will be discussed in the upcoming hearing

We were supposed to have judicial mediation 3 months following the PHR, but that still hasn't been arranged. A few days over a month after the PHR, the Respondent sent a w/o prejudice which I rejected.

I withdrew one of my claims just before as I had realised I misunderstood the legal requirements and informed the Tribunal and Respondent over email.

During the PHR, the Respondent's initially intended to:
a. Have all my claims struck out as having little to no reasonable chance at success;
b. impose a £1k deposit per claim to continue if they were not struck out

The Judge dismissed one claim of victimisation due to the wording I had used in my communication and how that after consideration it could be deemed as having little to no reasonable chance at success. I was asked if I wanted to challenge and I said no so I can withdraw it. All other claims were allowed to move forward by the Judge to a full hearing and no deposit penalty was applied.

I have already provided medical records, several doctor's notes and letters, and two statements regarding my disability and they Respondent conceded and accepted.

I have already provided my Schedule of Loss but haven't had a response to this (I don't think I'm supposed to but including just in case)

[ULA]

As your posts contain a lot of information and I just need to make sure I have understood your claim and the stage you are at in your ET process.I have set out my understanding below:

So your claims are:

- Race Discrimination
- Disability Discrimination
- Victimisation (although this has now been dismissed)
- Unlawful deductions
a. wages
b. holiday pay
c. notice pay

You say you withdrew one of your claims, was it any of the above I have set out and if so which one?

Given your final hearing is not until late 2024, I am not concerned that dates for disclosure of evidence, witness statement and index completion slip and they could even move into 2024 without any issue.

I think the main thing to concentrate on now is dealing with the List of Issues at the next hearing and getting that agreed and then ask the Judge to reissue new case management orders (CMO) in respect of the dates for final hearing bundle preparation and witness statement exchange.

In terms of your disclosures you will have to ensure that you have all the evidence to support your claims and this should form part of the bundle and the relevant documents referred to in your witness statement.

At last your disability has been accepted by the Respondent and a response to your Schedule of Loss is not necessarily required to be provided by the respondent.

[Electo21]

Thanks ULA - yes sorry, I appreciate it's a lot of info.

So the judge explained that there were 3 instances of victimisation and one of them would be considered difficult to continue so that's been withdrawn. So victimisation is still a current claim but on 2 counts.

The claim I withdrew was not mentioned to you in the list, no.

I will focus on the List of Issues; I have the version I'd like to submit as well as the reasoning and justification and how it can be tied back to the ET1, ET3 and Amended Grounds of Defence for the points that are under contention.

I'll continue trying to compile my List of evidence and witness statement in the meantime.

Should I leave the below issues for now, or should I reach out and flag to the Tribunal and explain that it has affected my ability to provide the List of Evidence from my end?

1. Them still refusing to provide disclosure,
2. Refusing to acknowledge or respond to my request for additional information relating to the ET3 and Amended Grounds of Defence, and
3. The disclosure they did provide was lacking a lot of information and not provided in its entirety, with one item in particular (relating to salary payments) being heavily modified as it appears to be at least 2-3 separate images layered on top of one another and isn't an official bank statement but rather screenshots off an app

[ULA]

Thank you for the clarification that is really helpful.

So in terms of priorities for you, I would suggest:

1. List of issues for the next hearing which is primarily a document about the legal issues of the claim so cover this first and brief details of when the instances of each claim occurred. Then as you are in front of a Judge try and raise your concerns listed at points 1-3 in your last post. I suggest you do this on the basis you are a litigant in person (LiP), I presume the respondent is represented. That you are trying to ensure that the overriding objective of ensuring that the parties are on an equal footing can only be achieved if you are provided the disclosures and information requested of the respondent.

I think if you have not come across this in your research to prepare for being involved in an ET process, you should have this document readily to hand, linked to below:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1237/contents

The above point I make is at Schedule 1 section 2

2. Preparing the evidence i.e.documents you need to ensure you can prove your claim gets put into the bundle.

3. Your witness statement, as a parts of this cannot be drafted until such times as you have seen the documents that the respondent will be including in the bundle and it will be the last document to be exchanged.

[Electo21]

Thank you so much, this has been really helpful. Is it okay if I come back to this thread if I have any other questions?

And yes, you are right again, they are being represented.