Tribunal Evidence

[question1]

hi,


I think I have a claim for discrimination / harassment, but my problem is that I dont think I have much evidence.


I think my main evidence will be my own word, such as what I say in my ET1 or my Witness Statement.


Will just my own Witness Statement be enough?


There were witnesses to the incidents, but I dont think they can be counted on to tell the truth, as I think theyd most likely lie to help cover the company.

I attempted to make a DSAR request for messages about me between certain staff / employees at the company to try and get more evidence, but they just came back and told me they didnt have anything (and I know this isnt true, but I expected them to say this).


So at the moment, all I have as evidence seems to be my own word.


I did not make any complaints during my employment (as I needed the job, and didnt want to risk being dismissed), so I suppose that doesnt help. But these problems did bother me a lot, enough to make me want to do something about it, especially now that I dont need to count on work from them.

But I dont want to just start Tribunal or Court cases if I dont have a very good case. And I think my lack of evidence might make my case weak.


I have little bits of evidence here and there. I dont want to go into too much detail that could identify me, but as an example, the company has a WhatsApp group that all employees are added onto when they first start. The company does not bother to remove any employees from the group at the end of their employment (not even ex-employees who have gone on to work for competing companies). But I was the only one never added onto this group, and when I was eventually added to the group (only near the very end of my employment, and only because there was an emergency), I was then the only employee removed from the group at the end of my employment. So, I believe this could count as some actual physical evidence that I was being treat differently, though it doesnt explain or prove the reason why (I believe the reason was discrimination).


Nearly all of what happened was verbal (not recorded in any way as far as I know).


So, do you think I would be able to bring a Tribunal case mainly based just on my own Witness Statement (with very little other evidence)? Will my own Witness Statement be enough proof?


I am planning to directly inform the company of my complaints, just I know Tribunal claims have time limits, so Im trying to do both at once to make sure I dont miss any deadlines if this does go to Tribunal

[ULA]

I will deal with time limits first, for a discrimination claim you have 3 months less a day from the date of the incident or incidents of discrimination about which you are complaining. Where there has been continuing discrimination or a series of acts of discrimination, the date from which the time limit starts to run will differ.

If you have left the company and are planning to raise your complaints, then you should use the company's grievance procedure.

In terms of making an Employment Tribunal claim then my opinion is that they are always stronger with evidence or it make be struck out at the early stages by a Judge, As you are making allegations of discrimination you need to be able to set out:

* each act of discrimination
* who perpetrated the act
* when did it happen
* were there any witnesses
* explain how it was discrimination

Yes there is the ET1 you will need to complete when making an Employment Tribunal (ET) claim and your witness statement but there is also what is call a hearing bundle. This has to include all the documents you and your employer will be relying on to make your claim or in the case of the employer defend the claim. As part of what you set out in your witness statement you will need to cross refer to documents in the bundle to support what you are setting out in your statement.

However, a step before submitting an ET1 form to the Employment Tribunal you will need to go through Early Conciliation via ACAS.