June 2008 - Employment Tribunal Claims

June 27, 2008advice

Cross-referencing

It is very common, in correspondence or orally, to need to refer to other documents, be they statutes, case-law or evidence. You will very rarely write anything that does not talk about other documents.

It is well worth thinking about how you do this. Writing something like “Such and such was laid out in the company’s policy” can cause problems. Often the policy will be long, and there may even be more than one. Your reader will have to search through pages of documents to find what you are talking about. Even a short submission of a couple of pages, will probably refer to a dozen or so other documents at least, so these problems add up quickly.

June 24, 2008advice

Recorded / special delivery

by MichaelLeave a comment

From time to time it is useful to send documents by recorded or special delivery.

There are normally two reasons to do this: dodgy opponents and important or urgent deliveries.

June 23, 2008update

Disclosure of documents

by Naomi6 Comments

Don’t ever assume that disclosure is completed. One particular point at which to reconsider whether the respondent has disclosed all the documents it ought to have is when you first read its witness statements.

June 21, 2008advice

Comparing two documents

by NaomiLeave a comment

Sometimes it is important to find out whether there are any differences – and if so what – between two very similar documents. A useful quick way of doing that is to read down the last word on each line for each page or paragraph of the two documents you are comparing.

June 18, 2008advice

Don’t agree mindlessly

by MichaelLeave a comment

Tribunals will often ask you whether you agree with a particular formulation of a point, as a way of checking they understand the issue.

For example, a Judge may ask:

Mr Reed, as I understand this you accept that there was no breach of the statutory dismissal procedures, but say that the hearing was procedurally unfair. Is that right?

This is often a good thing.

June 17, 2008advice

Turning gross into net

by MichaelLeave a comment

In the course of employment litigation you will often have to turn gross salary figures into net.

One way of doing this is to sit down with the tax legislation and work things out. This is boring, time-consuming and difficult.

A much easier solution is to use one of the ready reckoners available online. A good one is
listentotaxman.com.

June 16, 2008advice

Hard and soft numbers

by MichaelLeave a comment

An important part of case preparation is drawing up a schedule of loss. This is a list of the money that you are claiming from your employer.

A schedule should be complete and optimistic, without being silly. It should include everything that, if things go very well indeed, the tribunal might award.

This means that most schedules ask for an amount much higher than you are actually likely to get.

June 13, 2008advice

‘Said’ is not a rude word

by Naomi2 Comments

If you want to say in a witness statement that someone said something, just say that they said it.

June 12, 2008advice

Feeling the strain

by Michael1 Comment

Some litigants and lawyers act and write as if they’re just a little over caffeinated.

When they object to something they do so ‘firmly’ or ‘vigorously’. When they make submissions they do so ‘passionately’ or ‘strenuously’. They have made ‘heroic’ or ‘valiant’ efforts to comply with the tribunal’s orders.

A little calm goes a long way and is normally more convincing.

June 11, 2008advice

Beyond the past and future (loss)

by MichaelLeave a comment

Schedules of loss normally divide the compensatory award for unfair dismissal into past loss (loss up to the hearing) and future loss (loss that will happen after the hearing). A very similar approach is also taken to equivalent loss in other types of cases

This is a sensible system, because the tribunal will have to think about these things differently. Past loss is about what has actually happened. The tribunal will focus on making findings of fact about the claimant’s earnings post-dismissal and his efforts to mitigate. Future loss, however, is about predicting what will happen next.

There is no rule, however, that these are the only two categories that you can use.