ET1 form submitted to the wrong address given to me by the ET people. now it is late

[steampowered]

Hi steampower, I saw a friend solicitor who said that as I was still doing work for the company then it can be construed as continued employment however even if it is not I was working for them before the cut of point of where the law changed to 2 years continuos employment where only 1 year was the qualifying period if this is proven to be the case I was woking for 1 year and 8 months. continued working ad hoc means that I was still doing deliveries and working at events for the company but as a contractor.

Yes I just read that it is important to establish the dismissal date regarding notice and I now know that the late receipt of the dismissal letter is not grounds thanks for the advice. I will still be attempting to get some evidence on the incorrect email address issue.

 

Yes, your friend is correct. I'm sorry that what I said before about qualifying periods was not 100% accurate ... I fell victim to the temptation to make an overly broad statement in response to limited information - it is always easier to advise people in person than over the internet! The law is that employees who started before 6 April 2012 need one year, after that date need two years. On this basis it sounds like you have met the qualifying requirement.

 

The fact you were a contractor from May to July 2011 will unfortunately mean you only have one full year continuous service, meaning your notice period is only 1 week (not 4 weeks) and will also reduce the level of compensation awarded if you are successful in an unfair dismissal claim.

 

Your employer's letter is unclear, but to me it does not sound like a gross misconduct dismissal. He basically just says he has hired someone else. In the circumstances I think you should start from the position that you were entitled to one week's notice... hence you should claim a week's notice pay and the effective date of dismissal should be one week after the date of dismissal.

 

The other point to bear in mind is that the employer does not have to give you a reference and may tell prospective employers you were dismissed. This could cause problems for you in future. For this reason it might be sensible to write the employer a "without prejudice" letter explaining that you feel you have been unfairly dismissed. You could give an estimate of what you think you will be awarded by the Tribunal (one week's notice pay + the basic award + compensatory award for lost wages covering the reasonable period until you can find a new job) and state you are prepared to accept less and avoid the need for Tribunal proceedings if the employer will sign a settlement agreemeng offering to give an agreed neutral reference.

[Jonni730]

Yes gross misconduct is not applicable here. My lawyer basically said it won't hurt to go for the maximum time length and if it is argued that the role change constitutes a break in employment then I still qualify.

I will wait for the ET3 to come back before making any decision but I will consider an out of court settlement for a reasonable figure based on the awards you mention plus what I am owed in wages, suspension time pay and holiday.

So regarding the notice period situation, to whom do I ask for my submission start date to be considered from the last day of notice? Bearing in mind I sent my ET1 form already with the date of dismissal as 26 February 2013, I would like to get this part of the application sewn up asap.

Regarding using the new owner of the business as a referee, as he was only there for 2 months, I have not used him to date, instead I have used the previous employer whom I had an excellent relationship with and who is happy to give me a good reference. She has also agreed to write me a statement for my case to say that I was a model employee and an invaluable part of the team as I worked in many cases over and above my job role to keep things running smoothly. I will indeed ask for a neutral reference as part of a settlement if an agreement can be made before the tribunal hearing. However I do feel that I have been treated very poorly in part due to the way the new owner came to the business and created a chaotic organisation through his poor administration and management which I made a great effort to cooperate with, help out with, offer solutions to the problems that arose. and generally try to keep the car on the road while this new driver had the wheel. Unfortunately he saw fit to load the blame onto me for mistakes that occurred due to the atmosphere of chaos that was created by him, these mistakes were not occurring before his arrival. And then of course this terrible treatment with my pay reduction, cut over time and then this sacking when I went to get a job that allowed me to remain loyal to him and where he failed to follow any of the criteria set out by ACAS. It does feel as though he mistook me going to get another job as a direct show of disloyalty which couldn't be farther from the truth. But he does seem to get the wrong end of the stick somewhat. On the morning of my training it was somewhat ironic that as soon as I had told him about what I had arranged and that I needed to go to the training he got straight on the phone to someone to ask if they could pull a "sicky" Interestingly if I had done this myself he wouldn't have had anyone to cover me either.

I shall still try to get evidence about the incorrect email as a back up plee, all I can do is record the telephone conversation and I am not sure if this is admissible evidence?

Edited June 11, 2013 by Jonni730

[Jonni730]

Ok so I have just recorded London Central ET giving me the incorrect email address over the phone.

 

Just need to know if this is admissible.

[becky2585]

If it was done today and covertly recorded, then highly unlikely!

[steampowered]

Hmm. I've never heard of that situation before. I guess it will be up to the judge's discretion. My guess is that it would be allowed if you are required to prove your assertion that you were given the wrong address. It is not the same thing as covertly recording the employer because there is no duty of trust and confidence owed by you to the Tribunal. By itself this evidence doesn't get you an extension but I think it does show that the Tribunal are giving incorrect details. In any event the recording would need to be corroborated by evidence that the address is not valid - do not assume that the judge will know the correct email address.

 

I would also write a letter to the Tribunal manager explaining the problem and expressing concern. They need to know that staff are giving out correct details to prevent this from happening to other people. I actually had a situation where a pro-bono client was given an incorrect email address by London Central ET about a year ago ... in that case we were still in time so I did not think of taking it further, it is very disappointing that this is still going on.

 

For now I think we are jumping the gun a bit. Wait and see what the employer says on his ET3. Until an ET3 is filed there is little point worrying about what it may or may not say ... you will have plenty of time to think about what to do next after the ET3 is filed.

 

However I would still calculate what you think you will get and offer a 'without prejudice' settlement. He may go to see solicitors soon and will probably be asked to pay money up front on account of their costs ... if there is an offer on the table he may be tempted to accept that instead.

[Jonni730]

Yes the recording is really just to substantiate my claim that if I had not been given an incorrect email address then my ET1 form would have been submitted in time. It is interesting that your client was also given the wrong details, I think this goes to show that this is a serious problem that could effect peoples lives. Which it may do in my case, I'm glad your client didn't fall foul of this as I have.

I will draft a letter to the tribunals manager which can form part of my evidence. I will also include a picture of the actual address as posted on the internet as a comparison to the transcript of my recording. It also shows that out of all the regions in the UK East London is the only one that omits the 'et' from the address. I wonder if they at some point changed the address for some reason?

I shall get on with working out my award and making a settlement offer. I guess he will see a solicitor fairly soon to sort out his ET3. I have received a letter from the tribunal service as of the 5th June setting out my hearing date and what I need to compile for my evidence pack for the case so I suspect the respondent will also have received this.

I shall await the ET3 response.

[Emmzzi]

http://www.justice.gov.uk/contacts/hmcts/tribunals/employment

[Jonni730]

Thanks Emmzzi,

I have seen this page after I was prompted to go look for the correct address. It did make me think, why is it the only address that doesn't have the 'et' after the geographical location? There must be some reason that it is not inline with all the other ET offices listed. Anyway it seems to have caused confusion at London Central ET. Otherwise they wouldn't be giving out the wrong email address.

[Atlas01]

if this was me (good luck by the way) and i was asked why i didn't use the page emmzzi inked which i found myself via a simple google search before noticing emmzzi had linked it i would be saying that i wanted to make sure with the amount of email addresses on the internet for the ET's across the country i sent it to the correct place so i rang them directly

 

If you can prove the ET1 was sent to the other addy within the time limit which you allude to that would be my line in the sand defence