Employment tribunal hearing coming up

[Lorenz]

Hi, i'm ready to post the fresh letter of claim but I have a question. 

With the previous one I also sent it via email because they always claim that royal mail selectively destroys their mail.

Should I be a (insert chosen word here) and just send it through the post or should I also email them?

 

BTW, with regards to the ET case, they're a month late with the judge directions and there's no sign of them complying. 

Looks like ET is heavily biased towards employers (or solicitors?).

[FTMDave]

We always say -

On 01/06/2023 at 18:32, FTMDave said:

Send the letter tomorrow, usual free Certificate of Posting

That's all you need to prove to a court that the letter was sent.

If you are able to send it 1st class today (Friday) with the CoP the court will take it that the letter will be delivered on Monday.

POST EDITED due to my which-day-is-it-today confusion!

Edited June 2, 2023 by FTMDave
Incorrect informatioin edited

[FTMDave]

So presuming that's done, on day 15 you can start a new claim - using the "better" MCOL site this time!

Your PoCs can be the same as before except you need to add the bit about the period of distress.

[Lorenz]

Yes, I sent the new letter of claim on friday with recorded delivery. 

They signed for it today.

And listen to this, they sent me a letter telling me that even though they have paid, they don't admit any fault (why didn't they defend then???)

[Nicky Boy]

They don't have to admit any fault.

You now have a judgment which shows who is "at fault" (and possibly several more, by the way things are going) to show the tribunal how obstructive they have been throught the process...

[Lorenz]

Good evening everyone, 

Do I have to tell the county court that they paid or is the defendant job?

[FTMDave]

TBH - I don't know.

Wait 24 hours and see if experts who do know come on the thread.

If they don't, I can flag your post up to the Site Team for an answer.

It would also be interesting to know if they have ended up with a CCJ or not.  They did pay within 30 days.  But then you got a forthwith judgement and had to send the bailiffs in after 15 days.  Hmmm.

 

[Andyorch]

15 hours ago, Lorenz said:

Good evening everyone, 

Do I have to tell the county court that they paid or is the defendant job?

No the Bailiffs will advise the courts its been collected

[Lorenz]

Bailiffs never attended.

They paid before they were even told.

[Andyorch]

Fair enough, they have a CCJ anyway if paid after the date so no point in advising the court they have paid...that's for the defendant to inform them not that it will have any relevance.

[FTMDave]

@Lorenz Can you explain quickly in bullet points how you were paid?  We were under the impression you'd had to enforce. 

Date of judgement.  Date they paid.  Whether you forked out the enforcement fee.  Whether you got it back.  Etc. 

[Lorenz]

They paid after i sent the enforcement form to the court.

I didn't pay enforcement because the court needs the form first, but they paid me directly in my bank account 2 days after I sent the form.

So in other words, it never went to enforcement, so the court doesn't know they paid me.

So it's up to them to tell the court?

[Andyorch]

Yes if they wish to have the judgment marked as " satisfied " 

[FTMDave]

Well done on getting paid.

What position are you in re the second claim?

[Lorenz]

Hi, after a rough exchange of emails trying to blame x y and z, they disclosed other bits and pieces.

They still claim that they have no copy of my fwa or record of my shifts at point of transfer.

However,  they found a roster of 2015, when I still worked earlies and lates; how convenient. 

So they want me to believe that the previous company gave them old irrelevant information but not latest shifts.

How did they guess what shifts I and everyone else were working?

They refused to reply to this.

To top it off, they lost 2 copies of my passport claiming that they shred them after seeing, but they have no record of this.

And, after 3 messy grievances and an employment tribunal case, they claim that the 15 people involved, working in different sites, never, ever, exchanged anything about me in any communication.

Not one word about the massive mess they created and the fight I put up.

Possible?

Anyhow,  I submitted the second claim on mcol a couple of days ago and I received a confirmation letter today.

So now they have a couple of weeks to respond.

Do I need to prepare anything in view of them defending this time?

Thanks for your help. 

[FTMDave]

Thanks for keeping us up to date.

There are not many Caggers who are confident enough to punish these companies for refusing to face up to their SAR responsibilities, so threads like yours are almost "test cases" and help others immensely.

I've no doubt they wouldn't have disclosed anything at all if you hadn't started suing them.

I think what you've done so far is fine.  They may have come out with some half-baked excuses but that is different from filing a legal defence.  Let's see if they actually try to defend this time or just pretend it's not happening like the last time.  Hopefully the latter!

In any case none of this will look good for them in front of a tribunal.  Multiple refusals to respects SARs.  ICO judgements.  County court judgements for distress for not respecting SARs.

[Lorenz]

My husband is thinking of withdrawing the employment tribunal claim because he's got to go through spinal surgery.

He also spoke to his union barrister and got a good objective view of the case.

Practically,  the strongest part of the claim is the sex discrimination but I agreed to change my shifts and stupidly I didn't put it in writing that I was doing so under duress.

So they claimed that THEY accommodated my request to work earlies.

My husband reckons that 2 things can happen if we withdraw the claim.

1. They leave me alone knowing that I have support behind me and can cause trouble.

2. They restart their campaign to get rid of me but this time I will need to keep a perfect paper trail of everything that happens.

So far, since the start of legal proceedings all managers have been avoiding me and if inevitable to speak to me, they've been very nice.

[Lorenz]

Hi everyone, i logged in mcol and read this notice

"If you served separate detailed particulars of claim on the defendant(s), you must have filed a certificate of service within 14 days of serving these and, where you've done this, you must confirm this if you proceed to request judgment."

Does it mean I need to send the defendant the particulars of claim?

[Andyorch]

Did you opt to send separate particulars when you submitted the claim ?

[Lorenz]

No, I didn't 

[FTMDave]

Don't worry.  That's just a little-used clause about additional PoCs.

I''m sorry that advice on the Employment Tribunal has dried up.  I think it's my fault for concentrating on the SAR distress cases.  Apart from agreeing that getting an unbiased barrister to look at the case was a superb idea, Employment Tribunals are above my pay grade.  Hopefully @unclebulgaria67 and @Ethel Street will look in.

 

[unclebulgaria67]

Up to you really. If someone qualified has looked as your case and does not feel that you have a good case to bring, as you don't have enough evidence, then I can see why you are looking to withdraw.

Or you proceed and the company does not adequately defend, so you win.  

[Lorenz]

Well, regarding the ET case, the defendant has employed one of the best employment barrister in the country.

I even had a feeling she knew the judge at preliminary hearing. 

And my husband had the same feeling.

After all they use (misuse) public money, so no cost or risk to them.

[FTMDave]

What date does MCOL say your claim was issued on?

We must be getting near the deadline for them to defend.

Edited July 21, 2023 by FTMDave
Typo

[Lorenz]

Issued 04th july, 24th july I'll apply for default judgement. 

It's 3pm on a friday, unlikely they'll do something now.

One question: the option to apply for default judgement has been there since i submitted the claim.

It asks to fill a form.

I thought that there would be no option available until the 19 days had passed. What am i seeing wrong?