What sort of questions do you ask?

It seems that quite a few of those who find this site are looking for help with deciding what kind of questions to ask their former employer in the course of the hearing. In other words, they want to know how to go about cross-examination.

We have written quite a lot on this subject in our book.

We have also written a number of posts about various aspects of cross-examination on this blog – you can find these by using the index or the search box.

The questions you will need to ask will depend very heavily on what you are trying to prove. Probably the best thing you can do to get a feel for how this works is to sit in on some hearings at an employment tribunal. If you can, visit one of the larger employment tribunals (e.g. Central London, Stratford, Croydon, Watford, Ashford, Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow) and aim to listen to bits of several short hearings, preferably in cases in which at least one side is represented by lawyers. If you get to the tribunal at 9 o’clock or soon after, the clerks may be willing to point you in the direction of a suitable case if you explain what you want.

Employment tribunal hearings are normally held in public: you can come and go as you please, and there should be no need to identify yourself or explain yourself in any way if you don’t want to. If you’re asked, it should be sufficient just to say that you’re a member of the public.

If you sit at the back of one hearing, and you don’t find you understand a word of what’s going on because it’s day 9 of 17, don’t feel you have to stay until there’s a break: you can slip out at any time and go quietly into the back of another hearing room to see if there’s anything more enlightening going on there.