Employment tribunal hearing coming up

[FTMDave]

I see you've found the Virgin thread which has been used as the "template" for the other SAR distress threads.

 

You're right, the process is extremely straightforward.

 

You can sue them for a couple of hundred quid for distress and keep doing it every month or so until they respect the SAR.

 

The only thing to consider is if you really want to sue your employer.  If you do, relations will get even worse, but then you may already think they are as bad as they could be.

 

If you want to go down that route, post up a draft of a Letter of Claim.

[FTMDave]

Looks good to me.

 

The only change I would make is to give them 14 days to answer.

 

I presume you're using e-mail (if you're using snail mail get a free Certificate of Posting from the post office).

 

If none of the other regulars object, send it off tomorrow.

 

Entitle it LETTER OF CLAIM.

 

 

[FTMDave]

From some Googling it seems that 14 days is generally accepted, but the important thing is to give them a "reasonable" time.

 

I'm thinking therefore that you could get away with the 7 days but to tweak your letter to show why that is a reasonable time.  So -

 

 

LETTER OF CLAIM

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

On 03rd October 2022 I sent you a subject access request for a statutory disclosure of my personal data under the Data Protection Act.  You have not complied with your statutory duty.
 

It has caused me a great deal of distress not having my data which, as you are aware, I need for the upcoming Employment Tribunal case.

 

Also, the repeated necessity to chase after you to get this disclosure and having to suffer your repeated broken promises on the matter is contributing to cause further distress and anxiety. 

 

You have failed to comply after more than five months and after receiving numerous reminders, and despite two complaints to the Information Commissioner's Office.  You know full well that the matter is urgent as the Employment Tribunal case will be heard in 4 weeks.

Therefore I am giving you a final 7 days in which to satisfy my subject access request and if you do not do so I shall be beginning a County Court claim against you for £200 for distress.

Yours faithfully,

 

 

I'm flagging this up to experienced Site Team members who will be able to answer this 7 v 14 day matter.

Edited March 16, 2023 by FTMDave
Grammar improved

[FTMDave]

As no-one has objected, send off the version of the Letter of Claim in post 42.

 

As you know they won't comply, you might as well draft your Particulars of Claim.  There is an example in the Virgin thread.

[FTMDave]

If you haven't yet done what I posted two hours ago, change the time to 10 days and send.

 

Someone who is an expert in these matters has just written to me -

 

Would 10 days suffice? 7 seems a little short and could be viewed as unreasonable.

 

 

[FTMDave]

Presuming you sent your Letter of Claim on 16 March, next Thursday will be day 14 and next Friday day 15 when you should start your county court claim.

 

It would be a good idea to post up a draft of your Particulars of Claim.

 

The PoCs just need to be a few lines, and there are examples in the other SAR threads you read which you can use as a starting point.

[FTMDave]

6 April approaches for them.

 

Tick, tock.

[FTMDave]

11 hours ago, Lorenz said:

Also, the deadline for them to reply to the data protection claim is up tomorrow,  should I start a separate thread for this with the particulars of claim?

No need just yet.

 

But please post up the PoCs when you have a moment.

 

It's important the claim is started the moment the 14 days are up to show them you're not joking.

Edited April 5, 2023 by FTMDave
Typo

[FTMDave]

Looks absolutely damn perfect to me.

 

If none of the other regulars disagree, file your claim tomorrow as soon as the 14 days are up.

[FTMDave]

You're the claimant so everything has to be done in your name.

 

Informally your husband can help you with stuff of course.

[FTMDave]

Check on MCOL what the issue date was for your SAR claim.

[FTMDave]

Well done.

 

You could start the whole process again immediately, as their breach is continuing.

 

However, best to await confirmation from the court of judgement in your favour.

 

Once you get that come back here, and we can think about enforcement and also about Round 2, as the wording of your PoCs will have to be slightly different the next time round.

 

 

[FTMDave]

Have you had confirmation from the court of judgment?

[FTMDave]

Let us know later on today, as it's important to keep the pressure on.

[FTMDave]

Well, the next steps are -

 

1.  Enforce judgement.  You can do that on MCOL.  It'll cost you, but you'll end up getting the money back when the bailiffs enforce.

 

2.   Send them a new LoC in preparation for suing them a second time.  It can be exactly the same as the last one except for the last paragraph which should be -

 

Therefore I am giving you a final 14 days in which to satisfy my subject access request and if you do not do so I shall be beginning a County Court claim against you for £200 for distress for the period from 20 March to 7 May.

 

The reason for the tweaking is that in the Virgin case Virgin eventually defended, saying that had been sued for the same thing twice, so it's important to differentiate the claims.

 

I'm assuming your last LoC was sent on 19 March and this new one will go off on 8 May, but change if I've got that wrong.

 

[FTMDave]

Can you take a screenshot of MCOL, showing claim status?

[FTMDave]

It's strange that you can't enforce judgement.

 

In any case, no reason not to send them the second LoC.

[FTMDave]

You applied for a forthwith judgement.  They should already have paid you.

 

So no messing around, as soon as the 14 days are up - 18 May - go for enforcement. IIRC it'll cost you £83, but no worries, they will be paying that to the bailiffs too so you'll get it back.

 

You also need to send another LoC.  it can be identical to the first one, except for the below.  Obviously check my additional words for accuracy as I can't remember when you sent the first LoC.

 

The reason for adding the nine words is that, in the Virgin thread which you may have read, the charlatans' solicitors tried to argue that they were being sued for the same thing twice, so this is to scupper that excuse!

 

Therefore I am giving you a final 7 days in which to satisfy my subject access request and if you do not do so I shall be beginning a County Court claim against you for £200 for distress for the period from 20 March to 15 May.

[FTMDave]

Any update?

 

Have you enforced?

[FTMDave]

No, if they pay after you start enforcement they have to pay your enforcement fee.

[FTMDave]

TBH I'm not sure of exactly what would happen in the circumstances you describe.

 

So just to make sure you're not chucking away money - how about e-mailing them tomorrow and telling them that unless the money is in your bank account by 1pm on Wednesday then you will enforce, bailiffs will turn up at the workplace and they will have to pay the bailiffs' fees?  Or something similar.  I presume they have your account details as they are your employer.  That way they would have no excuses.

[FTMDave]

It doesn't matter what is in dx's link, that idea was just to make them sweat.

 

You need to get on MCOL and follow the process.

[FTMDave]

From what you say, it does look like that MCOL page is for starting a new claim.

 

You need to look up your existing claim.  Do whatever you did to find your claim when you requested judgement.

[FTMDave]

MCOL is famous for its "hissy fits", albeit normally at the weekend.  24 hours will change nothing.  Leave it now and have another go tomorrow.

 

In any case don't worry, even in the worst-case scenario of MCOL permanently thwarting you, there are lots of other allowed ways to contact the court.

 

 

[FTMDave]

I'm looking at kfdh1962's thread, and on the 15th day after judgement was granted they were able to enforce through MCOL.