Unfair dismissal admission / personal injury / gdpr breach finding by ico

[CHRIS6712]

My ex-employer's solicitor is attempting to settle an unfair dismissal claim against their client, with me prior to an imminent Tribunal, but they have only been instructed to act in employment matters.

The unfair dismissal centered mainly around non payment of statutory sick pay (as independently found by a HMRC investigation, and a GDPR breach (ex-employer lost personal details, already found by the ICO).

I am looking to secure compensation in respect of personal injury (loss of university fees, travel and accommodation totalling around £10k), occasioned by this unfair dismissal. I have a 250 page bundle of Tribunal documents, an employment counsel opinion and a shorter precis of events within a witness statement.

Is no win/no fee best?

Are these two separate issues or can they both be rolled into one full and final matter?

Should I wait for the Tribunal outcome/formal admission before addressing these areas? Would I qualify for a better no win/no fee deal given that I have already done most of the spadework myself?

I would be grateful to receive some ideas on my options.

Thank you.

[ULA]

It is always difficult coming in "mid-stream" so to say so I just need to get things clear.

My understanding of your post is that:

1. You have an unfair dismissal claim which also includes non-payment of SSP and breach of GDPR - so understand that this part is employment related and were detailed as part of your ET1 claim.
2. With an employment counsel opinion do you have a solicitor already representing you or not? In which case where did you obtain counsel's opinion from? Are you looking to change your solicitor?
3. You have you already been through early conciliation via ACAS and you now have a tribunal date is this correct?
4. The personal injury part is due to you having an accident at work? In which case are the university fees etc in addition to anything you are claiming as a result of the injuries you sustained.

Hopefully with some answers to the above i can provide some more guidance.


*

[CHRIS6712]

Thank you for asking for clarification on my position.

The mistreatment of myself by managment, the final straw,* SSP and GDPR issues are all elements of the employment Tribunal and form part of my ET1 claim.* The unpaid SSP has now been paid to me and the GDPR breach has been admitted.* Counsel have advised that the Tribunal award will be limited to around £1500 because the Tribunal cannot take financial account of GDPR damages or the personal injury element of my loss.* This included ill health over a 12 month period, loss of university fees, the associated travelling and accommodation that cost me around £10k.* Counsel has suggested that these two greater matters be dealt with separately and in addition to the Tribunal.

I have coordinated the Tribunal myself with a little hand holding from a friend who is an employment lawyer.* I used Counsel on a direct access basis.*

The Tribunal is scheduled for the end of next month.

The personal injury element is resultant from the unfair dismissal claim which I am pretty much guaranteed to win. Indeed, It is probable that I will accept the "without prejudice" offer to settle the unfair dismissal issue.

Therefore, my dilemma is whether to pursue the resultant financial losses of the unfair dismissal and GDPR breach, jointly or separately, and whether it is likely to be best to do this on a no win/no fee basis or personally go down the County Court N1 route?

Your interest in my predicament is much appreciated.

[ULA]

Thank you for the clarification on the points I have raised which is very helpful and from what you have said it would appear that you have in fact three tracks:

1. An employment claim which is being handled via the ET and you seem to be well supported for this.
2. A potential personal injury claim you may have regarding ill health caused by your employer. What I would suggest you do is contact a PI lawyer to establish whether you in fact have a PI claim. There are many firms out there that offer a no win/no fee arrangement for handling PI claims.
3. A claim for the other elements i.e. university fees etc. This would in fact be a court claim which if 10k or less can be done through Money Claims Online, however please be aware that there is a fee payable by you for proceeding with this claim. in the event that the claim is over 10k and you were to be unsuccessful in your claim you may need to pay the legal costs of the other party. So I would suggest you give serious consideration to this course of action.

Hope that helps

*

[CHRIS6712]

Thank you very much.* Your advice is in line with my provisional feelings.* I am grateful that you have clarified that the PI and MCOL are separate issues. Would you suggest that the GDPR breach be a fourth and separate issue or should this be combined within either the MCOL or PI approach?

I thank you most sincerely for your thoughts...........

[ULA]

On the GDPR issue have you made a complaint to the ICO? I ask because if the ICO has investigated and found that GDPR has been breached then this evidence can be used to support any claim. My view is that it is probably via the MCOL but if you do speak to a PI lawyer you may want to clarify with them.

As I said in my earlier post just give consideration to the fact that even with a MCOL process, if the judge considered the claim to be vexatious or you had acted unreasonable you may be hit with the costs of the other party.*

[CHRIS6712]

Yes, I have the written findings of the ICO who found in my favour and also the written findings of HMRC who ruled that my ex employer was wrong to have refused to pay my SSP.

I will take advice from a PI lawyer whether it would be best to include the GPDR issue, and keep in mind that in the alternative,* the total* civil loss will not exceed £10,000.

I had better get busy.

Thank you again for your opinions.

Kind Regards............