Good afternoon. I have a couple of questions regarding an ET case that has recently been submitted, for constructive dismissal, and wonder if someone can guide me.

1. The respondent (a large retail company) has, 8 days before the time limit, requested an extension of time to submit their ET3, citing 'they are awaiting further information on the claim from me', as there isn't enough information in the ET1 for them to respond. Yet they only wrote a letter to me, on the same date (today). Can I object to the request, and if so, how?

2. The letter appears to be a 'fishing' letter, trying to ascertain exactly what information and evidence I have. My initial thoughts are twofold: a) if there wasn't enough information in the ET1, the tribunal wouldn't have accepted the claim, and b) the information they are requesting appears to be what would be included in my witness statement, and they should not be privy to such until the witness statement is provided (and obviously exchanged with theirs on the same day).

They are being represented by a solicitor, whereas, I'm acting as a litigant in person, and I believe they are abusing that knowledge.

Can someone advise the best way forward please?

You can write a simple letter to the Tribunal objecting to the request on the grounds that the ET1 already contains sufficient information for them to plead their ET3, that the request for information was very late, and stating that provision of further information and evidence will be handled at the proper time, which occurs at the disclosure stage.

Thank you Steampowered, that was my thoughts.

Update: Their request for an extension of time was rejected. I suspect they will now come up with further tactics to have the case either delayed or thrown out.

However, I now have a further question:

In trying to put together the 'remedy' I have hit a mental brick wall. I'm aware that any remedy I seek is not to 'punish' the employer, but to compensate for my losses (hardly a disincentive for a multi million £ company to behave, but that's another story). But while some of those losses are easily quantifiable, others are not. i understand that basic calculations for unfair contructive dismissal, but there are also other breaches of law that are included in my claim. Predominantly, misrepresentation and breach of contract/agreement. Can I put an amount, say 3-6 months salary for each? Or would that be classified as 'duplication of the same loss'?

I'm finding it very hard to understand why there is no 'penalty' to any employer that blatantly has no regard for employment law (and a few other things that are relevant). And the new rules on caps, seem to be more in favour of the employer than ever!

Unfair dismissal awards have two components. The first component is the basic award which is calculated according to a statutory formula which is meant to be the penalty.

The second component is the compensatory award, which is designed to compensate you for financial loss suffered as a result of the dismissal. At the minimum end this would be your notice period plus any outstanding holiday pay. However you would usually try for more to cover the time until you find a new job, or the time you could reasonably expect to be out of work despite search.

See http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/work_w/work_problems_at_work_e/et_employment_tribunals_from_29_july_2013_e/et_valuing_a_claim_e/et_compensatory_award_e/et_calculating_the_compensatory_award_e/et_preparing_a_schedule_of_loss_e/et30_sample_schedule_of_loss.htm

You can't get compensated more than once for the same loss. It is difficult to say what you could get for the breach of contract or misrepresentation claims as you haven't told us what they are about. If they really just relate to the dismissal you can't add anything extra on.

Thanks steampowered. It's a complex issue, and I could bore you with all the details, although this whole issue originally started back at the beginning of the year, and I had a thread about it here :http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?417514-TUPE-help-please. There has obviously been a considerable amount of stuff happened since then too. I'm always wary of putting everything on a public forum, purely because the 'other side' could choose to go looking on here.

I guess despite several breaches of law, the loss is the same. I just cannot understand why there are no 'penalties' for employers that don't abide by the law. After all, if I break the law, be it a speeding or parking offence, I have to pay a penalty!