If the claimant can’t read
A significant minority of claimants in employment tribunals either can’t read at all, or can’t read in English. This isn’t a particular problem – but it does mean there are some respects in which the hearing – and preparation for it – won’t work in quite the usual way. It’s worth giving it a bit of thought so that things still run smoothly.
First, you’ll have to think about the bundle of documents. Just because your client can’t read, it doesn’t follow that the documents in the case are none of his business. There are probably notes of meetings at which he was present: in a dismissal case, for instance, there will almost certainly be notes of investigation and disciplinary meetings. Your client is likely to be asked at the hearing if he agrees that these notes are accurate – and it won’t be good enough for him just to shrug his shoulders and say he doesn’t know, because he can’t read them. He’ll be expected to have had them read to him by the time of the hearing, so that he’s in a position to comment on them.
This means that you – or someone – will need to spend quite a lot of time going through the bundle with your client, making sure he knows what’s in it, reading the important bits aloud to him, finding out whether he does or doesn’t agree with the notes of any meetings at which he was present, and so on. If there are important respects in which he disagrees with the respondent’s notes of any meetings, you’ll need to include an explanation of that in his witness statement. Or he may have been blamed for failing to respond appropriately to an important letter from his employer: if the reason for that is that he wasn’t able to read it, that will need to be explained, too.
On the day of the hearing, you will need to make the tribunal aware that your client can’t read before the evidence begins. It will be unsettling if the first thing that happens when he goes to the witness table is that he’s asked to read the words of the oath from a card – and has to explain that he can’t. The best thing is to mention this to the clerk who is dealing with the case when he asks your client whether he wants to swear on the Bible or another holy book, or affirm, and ask him to make sure the tribunal knows.
Obviously your client won’t be able to read his statement aloud. Ask the tribunal how they want to deal with this. They may just want you to get him to confirm that he has had the statement read to her, and has approved it. He has probably been able to sign it – lots of people who have never learned to read can still sign their names.
Finally: some people who can’t read are embarrassed about it. But that is likely to be strongly affected by how other people react: so if you handle it in a completely matter-of-fact way (as the tribunal certainly will), your client is much less likely to be embarrassed.
