Exchanging documents before a tribunal

[Openlaw15]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

I have given both the tribunal service and their solicitors copies of all of the statements I have had from both my doctor and my psychiatrist, and they also have a copy of the report produced by their OH department. It's not enough, it seems. I still have to go to a preliminary hearing to decide the issue.

Mydisability is depression with anxiety, and mild cognitive impairment. I have suffered from depression and anxiety since my late teens, and I have been on medication since then for both, which keeps it under control for the most part, but discounting the effects of my medication, which is one of the conditions of the definition of having a disability, I would not be able to function on a day to day basis.

I'm certain that I will meet the definition of having a disability, so I'm not overly worried about that, or the time bar issue. To be honest, I think I should breeze through the preliminary hearing, on paper at least. It's just the idea of going up against a well regarded employment lawyer which I'm somewhat apprehensive about. I worry that he will use his knowledge of the finer points of the law to bamboozle me.

Update: Look at pages 393-417 of this 915 page medical document. Anxiety Disorders, ie Panic Attacks, Agoraphobia...

I do not know how this cannot be enough as it's the standard the courts use around the world. https://justines2010blog.files.wordp.../03/dsm-iv.pdf Look at this 915 page pdf medical document, which will includes anxiety (mental health disability, depression (mental health) disability....find your symptoms and quote these to the tribunal. This is what medical professionals use all over the world. Equality Act is just the UK law. A tribunal is at best an inferior court so the world rules for medical professional must apply to tribunals too.

[Openlaw15]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

I'll try to write out the gist of my whole story then, give you as much info as possible!

First of all, I live and worked in Scotland, I'm not sure if that makes a great deal of difference, employment law seems to be one area that is largely unaffected by the vagaries of Scots Law!

I was employed by a large oil and gas service company, a multinational, with a multi billion dollar turnover. They decided they would have to make redundancies in February 2015. I was selected for redundancy based on a redundancy scoring matrix, in which I scored the lowest in the company, by quite some margin. This is despite me having been appraised exactly one month earlier, with a good quality appraisal, everything meeting or exceeding job requirements, apart from my attendance, which was weighted very low in the redundancy matrix anyway, so wouldn't have made much of a difference either way. The criteria on the appraisal and the criteria on the redundancy scoring matrix are very similar, a number of them sharing the exact same heading. I had also only recently been promoted into this position, some 3 months prior to this, and received a letter at the time congratulating me on a "well earned promotion". This coupled with the fact that I know most of the other people in the pool and I was far from being the worst employee there!

I had raised a grievance in June 2013, against my then line manager, as she told me I "wouldn't be getting a pay rise or a promotion until your condition improves", which is a verbatim quote! Obviously I wasn't happy with this, so I raised a grievance, which was investigated, and ultimately wasn't upheld, i.e. they found in favour of my manager. One of the outcomes to the grievance, however, was that I would be sent on a training course if it remained relevant to my role (which it did), after the training budget review. I was never sent on this course, despite remaining in the role for over 18 months after that was issued, and a fair number of my peers and colleagues being sent on the very same course.

I was sent to their Occupational Health (OH) department, which they outsource to a medical firm based in Aberdeen. They received 3 reports from OH, 2 of which I was aware of, 1 I only got after I had been made redundant and was trying to get all my documents together. In the first report, a number of recommendations were made to the company (that I could see an Educational Psychologist, that I could be sent for a CT scan, that I should be given regular feedback on my performance), none of which were implemented. The second report told them that I might well be afforded protection under the terms of the Equality Act 2010, and the third was just a general update on the first two.

The HR representative that dealt with the initial grievance, then the redundancy process was the same person throughout, so their initial claims of not knowing about my disability were simply not true, the letters from OH are all addressed to her.

We had a number of emails or statements going back and forth between the two parties initially, in which they have told lies and made up facts, before they engaged a a solicitor, who appear to have a better handle on things that their HR department did, although I think they are still feeding him lies, as he has told a few fibs as well in a statement he made after I submitted better & further particulars, as requested by the judge during a telephone preliminary hearing.

A few other notable points worth mentioning are that I raised a second grievance, after having been selected for redundancy, I felt, due to victimisation, which wasn't looked at, much less investigated, and also that I received a thinly, (or not so thinly) veiled threat from the HR representative about my chances of reemployment should I decide to take my case any further. It is well known that there is a blacklist operated in the oil and gas industry, so I took it to mean "take us to court, you'll find yourself blacklisted".

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There are quite a number of other points, but it would take me all day to catalogue all of the errors they have made in my case!

How is psych ed even relevant? Do you mean clinical psychologist?

[ryanbhoy1984]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

No, I'm fairly sure it was an educational psychologist. I'll double check my paperwork when I get home. I think it was to do with the mild cognitive impairment I suffer from, I have a thing with words and letters that I do in my head, sort of compulsively.

[ryanbhoy1984]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

It was indeed an educational psychologist they recommended me seeing. I just checked an attachment in an email on my phone.

[mariefab]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

Did you appeal the decision to dismiss you by reason of redundancy?

[ryanbhoy1984]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

I did appeal, although I didn't have a copy of my scores or the reason behind them at that time. I complained to the Information Commissioner's Office about that, and they were found to be in violation of whatever law it is that governs such a thing, I forget exactly which one it is right now. My appeal was rejected, even though I was told that they would investigate any discrepancies between my scores and my appraisal and make any adjustments.

[Openlaw15]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

No, I'm fairly sure it was an educational psychologist. I'll double check my paperwork when I get home. I think it was to do with the mild cognitive impairment I suffer from, I have a thing with words and letters that I do in my head, sort of compulsively.

Hmm, so this is a cognitive learning disability? Do you have an adult IQ test report...as this will confirm you have a disability. Explain what you mean by cognitive impairment. I have studied psychology too..so am aware of the cognitive side. ie learning performance.

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No, I'm fairly sure it was an educational psychologist. I'll double check my paperwork when I get home. I think it was to do with the mild cognitive impairment I suffer from, I have a thing with words and letters that I do in my head, sort of compulsively.

Please expound on this.

[ryanbhoy1984]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

I don't have a learning disability. I suffered an anoxic stroke in 2007, from which I have fully recovered, although it has left me with a habit of dividing up words, mentally, a habit that gets worse when under stress or pressure. By dividing words, I mean I'll take whatever word or phrase I'm reading, or thinking about, and try to divide it into equal number of letters. It's quite a strange habit, and the first psychiatrist I saw told me it would probably be due to mild cognitive impairment, due to the infarction I suffered.

[Openlaw15]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

I don't have a learning disability. I suffered an anoxic stroke in 2007, from which I have fully recovered, although it has left me with a habit of dividing up words, mentally, a habit that gets worse when under stress or pressure. By dividing words, I mean I'll take whatever word or phrase I'm reading, or thinking about, and try to divide it into equal number of letters. It's quite a strange habit, and the first psychiatrist I saw told me it would probably be due to mild cognitive impairment, due to the infarction I suffered.

This is a disability as it is likely permanent, ie more than 12 months. You also have your anxiety and depression, which are individually and collectively disabilities, as at least one hast lasted for 12 months, ie from your teens up to current time. Request a copy of your Occ. Health reports from your employer, they have a duty under the Data Protection Act and I think under the Medical Records Act. However, what is main disability said to reduce your performance?

[mariefab]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

Did they, at any time before you left, provide any explanation for the differences between your redundancy scores and the appraisal results one month earlier?

[ryanbhoy1984]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

openlaw, I have a copy of the reports from OH, and have forwarded them to the tribunal service. It's not enough.

The main disability is the depression and anxiety, which is kept in check with the medication I take.

Marie, they told me the appraisal was a more subjective thing, if I recall correctly, and that the redundancy scoring was objective, despite them using broadly the same criteria, and also the fact that their appraisal policy states that an appraisal is an objective appraisal of an employee's performance. I was also told that the appraisal was meant more as feedback than anything else. The judge during the mediation process kept coming back to the discrepancies there, I think he thought that was a real sticking point.

[mariefab]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

Don't worry about whether your exact diagnosis appears on an approved list. Courts stopped using that kind of criteria a long time ago.
Employment Tribunal look at whether you meet the all requirements of s.6(1) of the Equality Act.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/6

[ryanbhoy1984]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

I'm confident I do meet all of the criteria in the act to be classified as having a disability, as, although my condition is well controlled by the medication I take, and other things I do help myself, such as going to the gym, eating healthily, etc. discounting the effects of my medication, I wouldn't be able to face the world, I wouldn't want to get out of bed in the morning, I would struggle to sleep at night, I'd feel very low, and probably suicidal.

[mariefab]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

That's covered by Schedule 1 para.5
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/schedule/1

[ryanbhoy1984]

Re: Exchanging documents before a tribunal

Do you think that alone qualifies me as having a disability, that and the fact that it is long term? Or are there other criteria I'd have to meet?