Help with ET claim

[hugelyrippedoff]

Hi all,

I wondered if someone could give me some advice with an ET claim that I have made, please.

I am representing myself and need to know more about disclosure and how it works please.

Also I have an email from the respondent asking for further information, do I have to do this or do I wait until a tribunal orders it?

 

The claim is for discrimination on disability and sex grounds and I have just been left high and dry after my insurance solicitor said that I no longer have the magic 51% after stating that I had good prospects at the beginning. He never even met with me or had a full breakdown of my side of the story and now just because my employer is lying on their defence, he has dropped my case without even listening to me.

I would never have taken this on by myself and am floundering a bit to be honest.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

[hugelyrippedoff]

Also, I made a subject access request some time ago but my employers are not responding to it despite a reminder, which I assume is due to the court action. The thing is that I need documents that they are withholding from me, which includes my payslips, which is why I made the SAR, is there any way that I can get them to hand these documents over? They are needed for my case.

Thanks again.

[Sidewinder]

The employer cannot refuse an SAR - whether there is a claim in place or not. It is more normal though to use the case management orders issued by the Tribunal to ask for specific documents. The CMOs will set out the timetable for exchanging documents and you just need to ask for them - the Tribunal will not order disclosure unless you have made a request for them, the request has been refused and you ask the Tribunal to order disclosure having told them why they are important to your case.

 

You need to do a lot of research to proceed with your case, and should ideally take legal advice, even if only to check your witness statement or other important documents required in the case. There is a lot more to it tan issuing an ET1 and waiting for a hearing. You need to research and think very carefully about what to ask for in disclosure, why you need specific documents, and what you might be missing. What witnesses will you have to support your case? Once the respondent has disclosed documents, do they refer even by implication to other documents which you were previously unaware of? You can then request further disclosure. A SAR may be seen by the other side as a fishing exercise - I don't know what you have so I will ask for everything, in other words.

 

First and foremost though you need to make sure that your case stacks up alongside the relevant legal statutes and what you have (or can almost certainly get through disclosure) and what case law you can use to illustrate that you have a case - whilst all that will become more relevant at the witness statement stage and at any hearing, a well thought out outline of your case may lead to a settlement before a hearing, which may well be a desirable outcome. You don't want the respondent to know everything about your case, but you do want them to know that you HAVE a case!

[hugelyrippedoff]

Thanks so much for your help and advice, it is very much appreciated.

My parents are now funding a solicitor to asses my case properly as I don't know if the other solicitor did or not, and they will give me some help with getting it all together.

Amazingly the solicitor that ditched me a few days ago has now re-contacted me to ask for a telephone consultation with a review as to what the next step is! Its all very strange, but the new solicitor that I have, just on a fixed price assessment and then so many hours to help me prepare my case, (as we can't stretch to full support) seems fab and so I think I will stick with this one.

I will still be doing a lot of the work myself, I am not at all phased about standing up for myself in front of the respondents and their ensemble, I am not easily intimidated! Its just getting it all right before I get there that I find confusing.

Thanks again for your help and advice.

[Sidewinder]

Glad to hear that you are prepared for a long haul, and also that you will be getting some professional advice. Cases are winnable without, but trust me, you feel so much better if you have help.

 

Please keep us up to date with progress!

 

It may be worth looking for a copy of Employment Tribunal Claims, Tactics and Precedents by Naomi Cunningham. I have read excerpts and a number of testimonials and it does seem to offer a lot of help to self-representing claimants.

[hugelyrippedoff]

Thanks again for the advice, book has been ordered!

I will of course update you as and when, if the new solicitor gives me the go ahead then I will be seeking as much advice as I can possibly get.

This forum is a goldmine and the people on it are fabulous, it makes me feel like community spirit isn't dead after all.

[hugelyrippedoff]

Well this gets interesting, I have just found out that my insurance appointed solicitors law firm, is under some kind of contract with the council that I am taking to a tribunal.

I am not sure what this will mean now, but I am speaking to the new solicitor first thing on Tuesday morning to find out. I am wondering if this is why he has dropped the case without doing anything.

[nicolee2931]

Normally with an insurance provided solicitor you can usually return to the insurer and nominate your own solicitor as long as your appointed solicitor agrees to the terms of the insurance policy and the charging structure laid out by the insurer.

 

It maybe the case you could nominate your new solicitor to claim from the insurance policy and get full support through your claim however you would still have to have a 51% chance of success in order to use the policy. I would speak to the insurer, explain the solicitor they appointed has ties with the defendants and you wish to appoint your own solicitor.

[hugelyrippedoff]

Thanks nicolee, amazingly the original solicitor rang me and tells me that he is reviewing the case after he told me that he was dropping it! I am contacting the insurance to say that I no longer think he should be working on the case, he refutes the conflict of interest, but it is clearly there on the internet for all to see, so have sent the insurance company the link.

Will keep this updated.

Thanks again for all the advice given so far.

[hugelyrippedoff]

Hi, can anyone tell me please, if another incident of discrimination takes place after the ET1 is submitted, do I need to add that to my claim or will it be taken into account? If I have to add it, do I just let the court know or do I have to put another claim altogether in and does the 3 months time limit from the incident still count if adding it to existing claim?

thanks