finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

[Acjb007]

I'm claiming for unfair dismissal due to disability discrimination, failing to take medical evidence into account as mitigating circumstances, not following their own disaplinary policy which is also breach of contract. Since the disciplinary I want to claim for unfairly delaying the appeal process which has lead to unnecessary medical issues like insomnia, anxiety, and stress. All of which are seriously damaging to my current health conditions which the company are aware of. Breach of confidenciality due to management discussing my health issues with colleagues to which I have a witness. I also have proof in the form of texts which show 2 days before I was dismissed I was removed from the rota, my staff card destroyed and a job I had done for a year was given to another colleague. All these things show a decision was made before my hearing. So as you can see all in all the company has seriously failed to follow a fair disciplinary and damaged my reputation with gossip. Also although not proven my health which my gp and specialist can back up has been effected badly for a long period which they should have dealt with in 7-14 days if they had followed Acas guidelines. I'm at high risk of hemeraging again if my blood pressure raises or my lifestyle is disrupted by lack of sleep, stress etc. I've found it seriously difficult to hold down my new job with all these issues and I'm proud I've remained strong and not relapsed.

Any advice is much appreciated

[FlamingParrot]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

I'm claiming for unfair dismissal due to disability discrimination, failing to take medical evidence into account as mitigating circumstances, not following their own disaplinary policy which is also breach of contract. Since the disciplinary I want to claim for unfairly delaying the appeal process which has lead to unnecessary medical issues like insomnia, anxiety, and stress. All of which are seriously damaging to my current health conditions which the company are aware of. Breach of confidenciality due to management discussing my health issues with colleagues to which I have a witness. I also have proof in the form of texts which show 2 days before I was dismissed I was removed from the rota, my staff card destroyed and a job I had done for a year was given to another colleague. All these things show a decision was made before my hearing. So as you can see all in all the company has seriously failed to follow a fair disciplinary and damaged my reputation with gossip. Also although not proven my health which my gp and specialist can back up has been effected badly for a long period which they should have dealt with in 7-14 days if they had followed Acas guidelines. I'm at high risk of hemeraging again if my blood pressure raises or my lifestyle is disrupted by lack of sleep, stress etc. I've found it seriously difficult to hold down my new job with all these issues and I'm proud I've remained strong and not relapsed.

Any advice is much appreciated

I just wanted to comment on the above so you are aware of a few facts. You say you have found a new job. Have you already submitted your claim to the tribunal? How long were you out of a job?

The reason I ask is because you can usually just include actual losses in your schedule of loss. The schedule includes a basic award which is in line with statutory redundancy pay and a compensatory award for loss of earnings. The compensatory award only relates to those periods you were out of work due to being dismissed. Any other income is deducted from the award so if you have found employment you will only be able to claim for the period you were unemployed. You can't claim additional compensation for the delay and stress, especially since it didn't stop you from finding another job. Your schedule of loss will be:

• basic award: a week's pay per year of service when you were aged up to 41 or 1.5 weeks if over that age, capped @ the applicable rate (£464 if dismissed before 6th April 2015 or £475 after that).
• compensatory award: based on your previous take home pay from date of dismissal
• you can also claim loss of statutory rights, usually up to £500
• if you were dismissed without notice, you can add a claim for wrongful dismissal to cover your notice period

Income from employment, self-employment or benefits (JSA/ESA) will be deducted from the above.

If you found work almost immediately after dismissal, you may find you'll only be entitled to the basic award and wrongful dismissal and very little else. :mmph:

[stevemLS]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

Thanks for updating and good luck, even though several of us have warned you not to expect too much given the circumstances.

[mariefab]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

I've just read your previous threads. This isn't what you want to hear but...
I think that the best outcome that you could hope for is that, if you change tactics and throw yourself on their mercy, your former employers might agree to just put the dates of your employment on any future reference.
You have no hope whatsoever of succeeding in an unfair dismissal claim. Any such claim would be misconceived and your former employer would have a good claim for costs against you. This could mean you having to pay them £10,000s.

[Berniethebolt]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

I remember that I took part in the original thread.
61 days is not a long time to wait IMO, many people who are applying for sickness related benefits wait a lot longer , I have waited nearly 2 months for my PIP assessment and will be a while before I get a decision.

Moving on from that , as someone who was dismised for an addiction/mental health problem I think you have a very very steep hill to climb. Generally, although not always, large corporations will settle out of court if there is even a whiff of wrongdoing on their part and in some cases just to minimise costs .
I do wish you well and hope you come back and update us all, hopefully on this or your main thread

Addiction is an awful problem to deal with, even worse when it is an invisible one and i congratulate you , as before on being 3 years sober -I hope that is 3 years and 61 days by the way .

[stevemLS]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

BB - as far as I understand it this is the internal appeal, not an ET?

And the OP wasn't really dismissed for addiction/mental health - they were dismissed for theft which was admitted to be done on multiple occasions. They later attempted to make a causal link without any real evidence.

Sorry to be blunt OP, we call a spade a spade up here.

[Berniethebolt]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

Steve are you from bloody Yorkshire?

Thanks for the extra info, I was surprised that an ET could be so quick

[FlamingParrot]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

BB - as far as I understand it this is the internal appeal, not an ET?

And the OP wasn't really dismissed for addiction/mental health - they were dismissed for theft which was admitted to be done on multiple occasions. They later attempted to make a causal link without any real evidence.

Sorry to be blunt OP, we call a spade a spade up here.

I remember the thread now, as the OP had started a few, I commented just based on what had been written on this thread. In view of the above, the OP did very well to find alternative employment :clap2: in view of the potential issues regarding references. :ohwell:

I'd have to concur with the idea that any ET claim would not succeed due to the nature of the offence. :mmph:

[stevemLS]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

Steve are you from bloody Yorkshire?

Thanks for the extra info, I was surprised that an ET could be so quick

Yes I bloody am!

[Acjb007]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

Thanks for all your thoughts. My disability is liver disease not addiction. The fact I told them in the disciplinary I used to drink then presented them with medical advice and notes the refused point blank to even look at them. Their policy states if medical advice is submitted the company must speak to my gp or occupational health. They did neither. Yes I stole and admitted it is wrong but that doesn't mean I should not have a fair disciplinary. They owe me £130 in expenses so I can claim due to poor finances and mental health it made me think it was okay to steal . Acas said an appeal should be dealt with in 7-14 days not 61. The company knows my anxiety issues and should have made more effort to ensure that the appeal was dealt with asap so my health would not be further effected. They broke confidenciality by letting normal colleagues know I was an alcoholic and if my name was removed from the rota 2 days before dismissal then clearly a decision had been made prior to the hearing. I know you say not to expect anything but my legal friend has said he thinks I am almost certain to get a few thousand as a settlement if it goes to a tribunal .

[FlamingParrot]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

Thanks for all your thoughts. My disability is liver disease not addiction. The fact I told them in the disciplinary I used to drink then presented them with medical advice and notes the refused point blank to even look at them. Their policy states if medical advice is submitted the company must speak to my gp or occupational health. They did neither. Yes I stole and admitted it is wrong but that doesn't mean I should not have a fair disciplinary. They owe me £130 in expenses so I can claim due to poor finances and mental health it made me think it was okay to steal . Acas said an appeal should be dealt with in 7-14 days not 61. The company knows my anxiety issues and should have made more effort to ensure that the appeal was dealt with asap so my health would not be further effected. They broke confidenciality by letting normal colleagues know I was an alcoholic and if my name was removed from the rota 2 days before dismissal then clearly a decision had been made prior to the hearing. I know you say not to expect anything but my legal friend has said he thinks I am almost certain to get a few thousand as a settlement if it goes to a tribunal .

There are rules whereby even if you succeeded in bringing a claim and winning it based on procedural issues, the tribunal can still reduce your compensatory award if it thinks that you were guilty of misconduct and/or would have been dismissed anyway if they had followed appropriate procedure: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/wo...ht-be-reduced/

If you admit the misconduct, for example, being drunk at work or stealing, your compensatory award is likely to be reduced.

If a tribunal thinks you would have been dismissed anyway

The tribunal will have to decide what would have happened if your employer had followed a proper procedure before dismissing you. If they think you would have been dismissed anyway, and the dismissal would have been fair, you'll only get a compensatory award up to the date you were dismissed. The tribunal won't multiply any award by the number of months they think it would have taken you to find another job.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/wo...mpensated-for/

If the tribunal thinks it may take you longer to find another job, they will award you more compensation. However, they can also reduce your overall award if they think that you contributed towards your dismissal, for example by stealing from your employer.

[Acjb007]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

I was still under their employment when they discriminated against me. I was punished by being dismissed. Now it's the companies who is at fault.

[stevemLS]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

TBH OP you ignored much if not all the advice you received on your previous thread and continue to do so on this one.

You are perfectly free do so, of course. I just don't quite know what you wanted to hear when you asked for advice on this thread?

In the main, the regular posters on hear will not give you advice on the basis of what it is you want to hear, whilst trying to help and support you.

Good luck on Friday, let us know how you get on.

[Berniethebolt]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

I am a little concerned about your health to say the least.
I do not know the companies policy but I would suspect that they are only duty bound to get OH or GP advice is there is an obvious connection and it seems to me that the connection was made by you after your suspension.
I also worry about "your legal friend" . Does this person have legal qualifications and if so do they cover employment law ?

I know these all sound hard but they really are relevant.
What help if any are the Union giving you?

Finally and this is sadly from a man who knows, it seems you are making all the excuses for what you did but not taking real responsibility-that is the hardest part. Sadly they are some idiots who will try to hold it against you but real friends will accept your mistakes and support you

[FlamingParrot]

Re: finally my appeal is Friday after waiting 61 days.

I am a little concerned about your health to say the least.
I do not know the companies policy but I would suspect that they are only duty bound to get OH or GP advice is there is an obvious connection and it seems to me that the connection was made by you after your suspension.
I also worry about "your legal friend" . Does this person have legal qualifications and if so do they cover employment law ?

I know these all sound hard but they really are relevant.
What help if any are the Union giving you?

Finally and this is sadly from a man who knows, it seems you are making all the excuses for what you did but not taking real responsibility-that is the hardest part. Sadly they are some idiots who will try to hold it against you but real friends will accept your mistakes and support you

The main point here is not to judge the OP's behaviour but to establish the likelihood of any claim, succeeding. I know people who'd shoot themselves just to make a point but let's face it, the whole idea of an ET claim is to get some money out of it rather to end up out of pocket. The total cost of issuing a claim is a whooping £1,200 :scared: unless you qualify for remission, and it can be difficult to qualify if you are working. I have to say that paying that much is a big gamble even when you've been told that your chances of success are very good, you still think about that 10% chance of it going against you. :mmph:

If the ET decides that the claim had no merit it can order costs against the claimant. I know this doesn't happen often but it does happen, there was someone on here a year or two ago with an ET costs order for around £10k. :scared: :scared: :scared: