I suspect any claim you may have for disability discrimination may be out of time, if your dismissal happened in 2007.

Also please remember you only have three months (less one day) to submit ET1, which can be done online. This time limit is extended by a further three months less 1 day if you submit a statutory grievance. If you do submit a grievance, your ET1 cannot be submitted for 28 days after your grievance. If you submit your ET1 early, then you will simply be told to resubmit it later, so no harm done. If you submit it late, then your whole case may be dismissed for being out of time. I know what I would prefer. Get advice from CAB, or your union, or get an employment lawyer. Also good employment law links on LAG website. Good book by Naomi Cunningham and Michael Reed entitled "Employment Law: Tactics and Precedents"

Why post the same thing twice?

I guess you could raise it, but I know from experience that things can get quite nasty. It may just be preferable to keep quiet and keep a diary (contemporaneous notes) and only use it when or if things get worse. Make sure your witnesses have noted that conversation, if they are trustworthy, get them to also keep a diary, but don't tell them what to write in it. Otherwise if you are not too sure about you witnesses, parhaps start a conversation along the lines "you know when XYZ said that Mugabe thing, I was really hurt and shocked, I felt it was racist, what did you think?" to make sure they will remember the conversation, note this in your diary too. You could take the issue to Employment Tribunal, but you may find that even if you win, the award for injury to feeling, will be small probably in three figures. Alternatively if your organisation is enlightened, it might be useful to make a formal complaint. Good luck in whatever you do.

Thanks Elche I do get your point but the thing is it is the other side who have breached the terms of the COT3. Surely such agreements have a some form of 'penalty' if breached, or an incentive not to be brocken if you like, however many years later the breach may occur. I will try to get it in even as background info, but of course it will be much more beneficial if I could bring all the issues forward as primary facts!

Two points here If you're on sick leave, they can't make you work can they? If that is the case, surely all the program has been written in your own time. Secondly, you put any sort of code, and if in the future, the program crashes, they may have to pay you to correct it, cant you? Perhaps the program could be fixed by others, but where would you stand in such?

I have spoken to ACAS but they wont give any advice on this issue. So any help still appreciated.

Thanks

Extremely harsh I would say, but still you kept your job. Good luck and dont let the fluffies grind you down (I guess saying bastards might get me a written warning -oops)

Help I need some advice In 2002 I settled a case under a COT3 agreement, part of which was to move me away from the part of the organisation I was working in because my immediate line manager was harassing me at that time,for a period of four years, by being overly critical - like changing every single piece of work for minor and inconsequential 'errors' - and excessive monitoring. (I also got a small amount of money as well) In 2006 my employer then decided to move my harasser to my new section, although now I am his line manager. A few months later I was suspended pending investigations of some made up charge. I have been on suspension for over 18 months now! When my harasser came to work under me, I tried very hard to treat him fairly and was careful to give him the respect he did not afford me. I have now discovered that they had been monitoring my emails (although it was not the previous harasser) and that since my suspension, my previous harasses has been acting up into my job. I seem to recall that my COT3 agreement did not specifically mention the harasser, but the intention was to not work with him. I have made the grievance and now have an ET case. I am now preparing a further statement of particulars and just thought that bringing up the previous harassment, particualrly the notes the harasser made would help me demonstrate a continuing act. Can anyone please advise if that would cause a problem, even though the previous harassment issues were covered by the COT3 and is subject to a confidentiality clause. Thank you very much in anticipation

Hi going back to your original query, I have compiled some information on how Data Protection Act impacts on email snooping (mainly cut and pasted from Thompsons website). If you pm me i'll be happy to send it to you. It summarises the advice on the ICO website. However the thread about the impact of HRA and ECHR on the judicial system is very interesting and i'd like to see how such argument is interpreted by a judicial body. Surely if your judgement/ decision gives effect of breaching the Human Rights of any party, and you are bound by HRA/ECHR, then its irrelevant whether the party was acting against you or not. I suspect the counter argument would be that you cannot be in indirect breach of HRA/ECHR if your decision/judgement enables any party to escape their HRA/ECHR duty if there was no such duty in the first place. Any thoughts on this one? Also elche, could you please advise me which employment law book you got that quote from. My employer is quite definitely a public body and I am trying to bring my case unaided and unrepresented, any and all help very much appreciated. Thank you

Hi check out the /information Commisioners Office website, particularly the Employment Practices Code (part 3) and the Guide to Employment Practices Code (Section 5). A quick search on Google should bring them up. It seems to say that they should not do it and if they do, they would need to explain their actions to a Tribunal if challenged. The Tribunal can make inferences from inadequate explanations. Also please not the difference between general monitoring and directed monitoring I think there is a significant issue here. But I am not a lawyer, and you really should take legal advice. Please inform me of developments and new avenues as I am also taking my employer to ET which also incluses email snooping. Thanks