employment tribunal

Good to hear from you seasider, hope you and Mr. Seasider are maintaining a positive outlook? My daughter was in the process of taking her employer to a tribunal for constructive dismissal, but they settled 'out of court' so I can't offer much help I'm afraid. Do get in touch with the CAB, I'm sure they'll be able to advise you.

Hi seasider I don't know much about this sort of thing as my husband is self-employed but I do know ACAS were very helpful when one of our daughters took redundancy and also when another daughter was trying to sort out her maternity leave. Good luck.

Not within our experience, but DH's tribunal hearing of our appeal against the withdrawal his ESA is in a few weeks and I am dreading it - I feel he is "on trial" anad would do anything than have to go through it.

You can get lots of info and advice if you Google ACAS tribunals - the whole process is outlined for you. ACAS advisors are very helpful, and when your application is accepted, a pre-tribunal hearing will be held so the judge can tell you what else you need to submit. Tribunal judges want to see out of court settlements where possible.

I have heard some very funny news in the last couple of days. Before I retired I was involved in a long-running tribunal involving several probation middle managers who were forced to take redundancy in a round of probation cuts. They were treated very badly, particularly by the probation solicitor who advised the executives on how to get them out of facing the tribunal. This solicitor has now sent out an email to the whole service, complaining that he will be taking 'forced redundancy.' One of the middle managers who was forced out is now a qualified solicitor, so the group is tempted to offer him some (expensive) legal support. What goes round, comes round! I shouldn't laugh..........

See carol it always comes back and bites them on the bum in time!!!

I assume you have got the ET1 form and there is guidance about completing this on this web site:

www.justice.gov.uk/global/forms/hmcts/tribunals/employment/index.htm

Good luck

Graces mum, don't be anxious. The tribunal panel are all human too. It's not a trial. Just make sure you have all your facts sorted, know what descriptors you disagree with the scoring of and why. Make sure any extra evidence eg gps letters have been sent to the tribunal device well in advance and take copies to the tribunal itself. ( they have been known to get lost) . The tribunal consists of a lawyer( now called judge ) and a doctor. They will both be experienced and I am sure will try to put you at ease. Good luck.

I meant service not device. This ad reckons it knows how to spell

hi Grannyactivist we tried to put all this behind us over Christmas but now the hard work begins! Just completing all the forms for the tribunal. We were considering a solicitor but worried about costs so doing it ourselves with some assistance from friends. Just worried that we will not put the relevant info on the application and it may be refused. We are fairly sure we have a good case if we can get to tribunal but we will be fighting a large company. Thank you all so much for your advice and support .

Good luck seasider. When checking out the case I was involved with, most solicitors were rather lost on the fine detail, and the scarce employment lawyers were more interested in big time cases, not individuals. ACAS will help you get all the relevant information lined up, and will not reject the case out of hand if all the information has not been properly compiled - they will advise you and set a further deadline for submission.

Wondering how you are progressing with your tribunal seasider? Thanks to brilliant advice from a very special person, DH's appeal was upheld within 2 minutes of his hearing yesterday!! They were very nice to us and the judge, recognising DH's not inconsiderable health issues said he just wanted to extend every good wish for his future. But the DWP denying in writing that his appeal was justified and claiming that a "health professional" knew best when they had clearly no idea of the severity of DH's stated illness, beggars belief. ATOS healthcare are simply not fit for purpose and the stress and anguish this has occasioned has affected both of us. We found it impossible to contact CAB by phone and DH ended up "doorstepping" them on one of the coldest mornings of the year and because they are short staffed too, they were unable to provide a "benefits expert" until 2 weeks after the tribunal. What absolutely clinched it was, I think, the advice we were given regarding the nature of the appeal and the necessity of corroborative evidence even although a "health professional" i.e. the assessor from ATOS shoudl have had the nous to look up DH's illness if she didn't know what it was! I have gone on at length, I am afraid because it has had a massive effect on both of us - DH has felt ill, had trouble sleeping, I have been stressed and also had difficulty sleeping largely because the whole wretched process has made us face DH's health problems and his prognosis from a closer perspective instead of dealing with each day as it comes and crossing bridges as we come to them. Good luck!

So glad the appeal succeeded, gracesmum. Well done to you for pursuing it. But I am distressed to hear yet again of a potential client being let down by CAB. I can only put this down to cuts in grants from local authorities. It is specially disturbing given that the government expects CAB to take over the work of Consumer Direct when, as is intended, it is disbanded. If this is the Big Society, Cameron can stick it....

Hi Gracesmum glad to hear you won but sorry to hear you had such a stressful time leading up to the tribunal. Best wishes to you both hope you can put it behind you. A good friend helped us with our tribunal application and we found out yesterday it had been accepted though we must wait 5 months for a hearing date. At least it feels like things are moving along and maybe if his employers realise they are wrong it may not get as far as a hearing. DP has had no luck job hunting yet but I feel like I am walking on eggshells. He pointed something out to me today and I happened to mention I had been too busy to notice and he took this as personal criticism that he is not working! Such a shame as we were going out for a meal followed by a show for which we had been given tickets as a Christmas present. We had been looking forward to it but the row put a damper on the whole evening.

Gracesmum that is great news - I am sorry you had to go through the mill first

Seasider the 5 months may be immaterial if there are offers put on the table before then and you decide to accept. The tribunal I have referred to in other posts was at the end of a long process, in which time we received several offers and finally settled 3 months before the tribunal date. We sent a list of senior executives that we were prepared to call to the tribunal, and that really put the wind up them because it would have cost much more than the required settlement to organise and train them up to give the evidence, as well as pull them out of diaried meetings and conferences on the tribunal days. The solicitor who acted for the organisation and made our lives hell was himself made redundant a few weeks ago. He sent a simpering email out to the whole organisation saying he was being forced out - what goes round, comes round!

thanks Carol I really hope we can settle before then. We are just not sure how to calculate the amount of compensation we should be asking for. Is there any guidance anywhere?

ACAS might give you some guidance - you have to look at loss of potential earnings, costs incurred, any travel fare and stationery costs, compensation for 'hurt feelings' and there may be other suggestions from Gransnetters in the know. Keep the postings going Seasider as there will be a process that you go through which some of us might know a bit about. Good luck x

Hi Carol - We had a call from a very helpful lady at ACAS today so we know a little more about what we need to consider. There were things like the loss of employment rights. We had never thought about this issue but of course when you have to start a new job you lose the rights you have accumulated. Will let you know how we get on. Thanks for your support x

That's wonderful seasider. I can see things are gradually falling into place for you. It is amazing to think just how much you will need compensating for, when you start to add it all up. I know one person who included her loss of access to her network of support, in addition to hurt feelings, and being made to feel the stigma of having to attend a tribunal, and although the judge said it was acknowledged that she would experience these feelings, she didn't receive separate recompense, but it was all included under 'hurt feelings.'

help - re employment tribunal compensation does anybody know how much loss of future earnings to ask for . DP is mid fifties and job prospects at the moment are very poor so could be unemployed for some time. Also he pays maintenance for two children from his previous marriage which he cannot now afford . This has led to a deterioration in his realtionship with his ex wife and he has only seen his children once in December and then last week when they previously came very other weekend . Can this be brought into his claim? I understand you can claim for loss of status etc but how on earth do I calculate a monetary value ? very confused at the moment and any help appreciated! Have spoken to ACAS but it is still a bit vague . thanks

You work out annual earnings from beginning of dispute to projected retirement date, less any pay that has been received already. Compensation for loss of earnings and accompanying tension with ex should be calculated, under 'hurt feelings.' If there is an offer of redundancy, that will be paid at the going rate, depending on length of service. Any holidays not taken should be paid for, too. I don't know about loss of status - sorry.

Certain payments are free of tax up to a certain amount (30 odd thousand - it will be easy to find if you google).

Contact company or private pension scheme to find out about what can be withdrawn/converted from pension as a lump sum in advance, too. They can give advice, but limited to pension. Company payroll dept tend not to have a clue about what you will be allowed ex gratia, but will always work out what is owed if you give them dates.

thanks again Carol things getting a bit strained here!

seasider

Feeling for you seasider and wishing you well. It's hard to put a figure on your feelings, but I can imagine some of what you are going through. It is just not fair is it?