Employment tribunals normally expect witnesses to read their statements aloud. If the statements are very short, there’s something to be said for this: it gives…
Employment cases sometimes come down to one person saying one thing and another saying something quite different. This sometimes seems to cause people excessive concern.…
It’s really very easy: all you have to do is tell lies when you’re giving your evidence. Treat cross-examination as a contest with your employer’s…
Witnesses in the employment tribunal are usually asked to read their statements aloud. One of the small things you can do to help the hearing run smoothly is to let your witnesses know in advance how you’re going to handle references to documents in the statement.
A lot of litigants present character references to the tribunal. These tend to be short statements or letters written by people who know the litigant saying, in effect: ‘Mr Smith is a good and honest man, who certainly would / wouldn’t have….’
A common variation is statements about the other side saying, more or less: ‘Ms Jones is a nasty and dishonest person, who certainly would / wouldn’t have….’
This makes a certain amount of sense. An important part of the tribunal’s role is to decide who to believe. So the character of the parties, good or bad, is important.
But these statements are rarely, if ever, of any use.
Witness statement should not be put in the bundle of documents.
There is a theoretical justification for this, but the main reason is convenience.
Sometimes when you ask a simple factual question, the witness doesn’t seem to want to answer it at all.
After the respondent’s representative has finished cross-examining your witness, you have the chance to ask some further questions arising out the cross-examination. This is called ‘re-examination.’
In an ideal world, witness statements would be ready days, if not weeks, before they had to be exchanged. There would even be lots of…
Employment tribunals tend to order that witness statements are to be ‘exchanged’ on a certain date. What is implicit in this is that there will…