I signed a lease on a property that came with a 2 acre field and stables.

The house has a warp around garden, but the two acre field forms one side of the property (it is all fenced)

We have a 6 months lease, but agreed to sign a three year lease once we were settled. We had settled on getting a pony for the kids once the tree year lease had been signed.

We checked with the landlord that we could bring our dog (1 year old labradoodle) and moved in.

We moved the entire family a considerable distance

After a week in the house the local farmers wife came and asked if they could put some sheep in the field , i told her i was worried about the dog as he had never seen sheep let alone been in close contact. I told her i would think about it, but only after i had upgraded the fencing round the property (which was going to cost £500).

We want to be part of the community and i was prepared to make the gesture.

I did not upgrade the fencing and didn't speak the the farmers wife again regarding the matter.

We woke up about a week ago to all the kids toys and bikes dumped in the garden (taken from the field) and sheep and lambs all over the field.

Not wishing to cause any trouble we waited till after the weekend to talk to the letting agent to see where we stood, he contacted the landlord who told him that they had agreed to let the farmer graze the field .

The agent apologised and told us he never knew anything about the arrangement and it was only during lambing season

We didn't want to upset the applecart (new life, new start and all that) so we only let the dog or the kids play there when the sheep were not in the field. (we still had not spoken to the farmer or his wife at this point)

yesterday (when the field was empty) the farmer came barging on the property to tell us to get the dog out the field or he would shoot it (i know he's entitled to do this) and that not only could my kids not go into the field but neither could myself or my wife.

He says he has the permission of the landlord to graze the field all summer and that if he sees the dog again he will shoot it

It all got a bit heated at this point. I tried to reason with him, but to no avail

The property was advertised with a 2 acre field and stables. which we do not have the use of

My kids and wife are terrified that he will shoot the dog (Only spoken to on one occasion and he strikes me as the elderly stuck in his ways farmer that would and worry about it later)

Can i break my lease?

Can i claim back my moving expenses?

Can i reduce my rent payment?

can i lock the field off to the farmer?

The farmer is not for reasoning with at all and i am paying for land i can't use

I have other posts on this matter, but need a bit of help

I want to call several customers as witness's at an ET

I have to provide the witness names and contact details at a Case Management discussion.

Will i, or could I, be found in breach of DPA or compmnay rules by contacting these customers for statements. (They threatened me with gross misconduct during my greivence if i contacted third parties)

I understand that the Et can disregaurd DPA or even ECHR where they believe that the evidence is required ofr a fair and equitable hearing

Any tips peeps?

MY OH has a claim into the ET for Sexual Discrimination and Harassment against her company.

It has been rumbling on for ages now.

We attended the PHR and to be honest I felt out my depth. Walking away from it I felt sure the judge was going to throw the case out.

However when he issued his ruling from the PHR we dismissed all the respondents’ claims and allowed my OH to makes changes to her ET1 to better reflect her case.

We got notice through for the CMD which is listed for 90 minutes this Thursday.

We did have a lawyer already to go (he's a family friend) but his wife has now critically ill. In the circumstances I can't exactly ask for advice and the case is reasonably complicated that the option of getting another lawyer in time is not feasible

I am therefore thrown into the mix again and will need to attend the CMD.

Apart from my OH, nobody knows this case as well as I do!

If any of the Caggers on here could offer some guidance or help it really would be appreciated.

There are 11 points on the CMD instruction:

1 & 2 deal with PHR and have already been dealt with.

3 deal's with the length of the hearing and the dates.

I have no ideas how long to ask for at all?. I expect to call 7 witnesses but I have no idea about the respondent. Do I need to have an expected time scale?

I already have all the dates my witness's can attend

4 asks for the statutory provisions upon which the claimant relies and the essential matters capable of being proved if the claim is to have a reasonable prospect of success

This is the one that has me worried. Last time at the PHR the respondent’s lawyer had a pile of case law and Butterworth’s that I had to digest. I felt out my depth.

The essential matters worry me less. I have to show that the employer knew of the problems and took no action to address them. I have to show that the incidents in the ET1 took place

5 the identity of the witness's and the relevance of the evidence

I have all the names; do I have to provide addresses as well at this stage?

I have a list of the relevant issues that each will address

On this, I want to call several customers who witnessed events. Their statements were offers at the grievance but the respondent refused to allow them into the proceedings.

Can I call customers to the ET to give statement (They have agreed)?

If I call them it would mean that my OH has given customers details to a third party (her representative, me) would that then makes her liable for a breach of data protection or confidentiality?

6 The documentary evidence likely to be produced by each party and instruction on its exchange

I think I understand that we have to develop a set of date’s foe the exchange of witness statements and documents. Do I need to have all of mine with me for the CMD?

Is this the only opportunity I will have to ask for documents from the respondent?

7 What facts are capable of being agreed in advance?

Again I think I have a handle on this, they are a bunch of lying to rags, and we telling the truth. Ha ha (Gallows humour)

Any tips on what to expect here

8 & 9 if the judge considers there should be any orders

Tips on this one?

11 If the judge considers any other matter useful to efficient management of the case

Now to tactics, I have read that I should be prepared to allow items/witness statements that are not critical to our case to slide to show that we are prepared to compromise. IE: the respondent has 23 witness statements, 17 of which say they saw and heard nothing. I see no point in calling them so I would be prepared to state for the record that each of this witness’s saw and heard nothing to support my OH's claim of sexual discrimination or harassment

The respondent has already tried to scare the judge at the PHR that this case could last 3 to 4 weeks

Is this a good tactic?

We only have one witness that still works for the company; all our others are ex members of staff, customers or expert witness's

Do I need to call them as a witness, or just can we just get their statement at the cross examination? (This guy is already under intense pressure at work not to say anything, but they are standing strong)

On the expert witness item. We have documents that were forged and had them them forensically tested by two companies. The respondent had their own work done. I don’t want to call these witness as it will cost the earth and extend the case by a day or so (I am sure the respondent will as they have a bottomless pit for funds)

Any tips on how to proceed with these items with the judge and still allow the reports from the expert witness's to stand?

I am aware this is a monster post, but even the smallest crumb of help or guidance would be really great.

If it is anything like mine the other side will hand you a large folder of caselaw 5 mins prior to the meeting with the judge.

Be prepared!!

If it is Descimination then pay attention to which section of the act you have quoted in your ET1 i would suspect that there will be a lot of discussion around these points.

They will not be looking at any 'avertments' or allegations only the law and how it applies.

If you have any case law to quote make sure you have four copies.

Timing of the incidents will be very important and i would reccomend looking at Drinkel v Pinisula Business (check spelling) as it look at the entire course of events and not incidents.

Hope this helps

I need a little help with a constructive dismissal problem.

After a very heavy grievence and appeals procedure, and then a PHR for the ET for Sexual Discrimination my Oh had decided that she can no longer work for her employer

At the PHR new evidence came to light that the company had falsified more documents and 'adjusted' minutes of meetings to suit thier stance.

Although the compnay has not admitted any of the allegations from her, they did substanuate the smaller items under a different catagory, and they offered her re-deployment. (surley if there were no cases to answer why the need to offer alternative location?)

It's now five months later and she has had no contact or offer from HR although positions have become available. The companies own doctores have told them twice she cannot return to the location where she works.

She has cast iron evidence that minutes, letters and minutes have been forged, falsified and corrupted.

During her appeal she attended alone and this was conducted by an officer of the company with an'advisor' present from an HR company who proceeded to ask questions and answer on behalf of the company despite her being told prior that they were only ther to take notes

This of course does not cover thier conduct during the greivence procedures and appeal

Does she have grounds for constructive dismissal?

Can anybody point me to caselaw that might help or under what acts and relevant sections of law she can apply.

It's mainly got to do with dates of events. They were not clear enough for the judge.

I want them to look at the totality of the behaviour over a period of time, rather than looking at isolated incidents. But them seemed to focus on that.

I did have some caselaw on this Drinkel v Pinisula Business Services, but i didn'nt take it as i thought i would not have to argue caselaw.

Ho Hum

I don't think they will strike it out, but i have a feeling a deposit will be required.

I went into my PHR with three issues on the papers

Time Bar

No chance of success

Deposit and cost application

I had prepaered all my paperwork and thought the events were supossed to be in laymans terms

After being handed five legal caseworks 5 mins before the PHR hearing the clerk then gives me 6 pages of butterworths on ET law.

The judge and the rep for the respondant hen enter into nearly 60 mins of legal discussion which i tried my best to keep up with, only for the judge to turn to me for my opion on the matter.

Each time it happened the judge got a little more tetchy with me

I went prepared with evidence and paperwork produced in the grievence cross referanced with lodgements and some caselaw

The upshot is the judge has given me three days to make amendments to the ET1 before he decides to strike it out or not

I also got in trouble for late lodgements, which i did because the other side keep forhging documents to refute my prepeartions ( i have two forensic handwriting experts opinion backing this up that cost me £1k)

The time bar can't stand as it's in time, but i just feel out of my depth here

The other side have also said the Et would take 3/4 weeks which is total rubbish. They have 25 witness's, but 17 of them say they heard nothing, saw nothing.

Any suggestions,

can i add a letter to the judge to explain my position? is that allowed

can i request a case management meeting to reduce the paperwork and witness's we would call

I am representing my partner

Can you explain what you mean by the chairperson waving this off?

My challange to the vailidity of the evidence ie that it comes form protected conversations

or

the atempt by the respondants laywer to introduce it?

i was going to site the following in defence

framlington group ltd & axa framlington group ltd v barnetson

and

brunel university & schwatrz v webster & vaseghi

any thoughts?

No there are no grounds for a time bar at all, they say the last incident was on the 1st of the application for a PHR.

But in 1100 pages of evidence there is no mention of an incident on the 1st, in fact there are three incidents that are discussed in great detail over three hearings all after this 'invented' date.

They happened on the 3rd, 5th and 7th of the month. i have screeds of eveidence to prove this including the minutes of the greivence and the appeal

ACAS have only been involved in an atempt to settle prior to the ET

At no point in any communication with ACAS is this date of the last incident mentioned nor discussed.

I think thay have lied to the ET to secure a PHR and will try to use a verbal conversation with ACAS as justification for the PHR.

Since this is a protected conversation it canot be reffered to any way.

I have a PHR on shortly to dicuss a time bar on a sexual Discrimination case.

The Respondants lawyer has lodegd papers that indicate the last event of discrimination was on say the 1st of the month that would time bar the application to the ET.

They have submitted over 200 pages of lodgements that have no mention of an incident on the 1st of the month beacuse there never was an incident on that date

I have over 1100 pages of information (which has been disclosed to the other side) and there is not a single mention of any incident on the 1st of the month.

Thier lawyer has contacted me (in a panic) over these date.

He now says that the 1st of the month date arose from conversations with ACAS during a pre hearing settlement discussion (verbal not written)

I canot contact the ACAS Concillator at this moment to conffirm if this is true or not.

However i believe that any conversations between ACAS and both parties legal representatives in relation to a settlement are without predudice and are therefore protected.

This of course does not remove the fact that had the correct dates of incidents been used for the application to the ET for a PHR on the grounds of a time bar, then i do not think the Chairperson would have allowed it to proceed.

I am on shaky ground here , but i belive that the laywer for the other side has atempted to decieve the court to secure the PHR

They have also used the usual application for cost, application for deposit, no reasonable chance of success etc

Any suggestions as to how to proceed?

I need help really quickly!!

Sorry the changes very much effect my position ans stregthen thier case

I have a recording of the meeting, therefore my account is verbatum

It was taken without the other parties knowledge, however i understand that i am covered by the DPA Article 36, as the recording has not been revealed to a third party.

It is not also without precendent at an ET to present either a transcript in some cases a recording itself.

However it's the role of the advisor i really need to question, just how much interference can they get involved in?

I have just finniseh a string or meetings during a grievence/appeal hearing.

At all of them, the compnay had a representative from an external HR company there.

I was advised that they were there to take minutes and advise.

When i reviewed my notes i have realised that they conducted part of the questioning, prompted on dates and order of events etc

Is this fit and proper?

Also is there and legal differnce between notes and minutes?

I have just compared a verbatim transcript with the minutes provided and they are vastly different. I know that minutes are supposed to be an abridged version, by how far does that stretch.

The minutes are 14 pages but the transcript is over 33 pages.

Plus in the verbatum transcript a phrase like " i apoligise, we were wrong, but we don't intend to address that now" has been noted/minuted as " i will take a note of that"

Help?

I have a cliam into the ET.

I have a PHR with the usual things from the other side: Weak case no chance of winning, seeking deposit, Seeking costs, Time dis-barr

The time dis-barr has been checked many times by the ET, ACAS, Union and all agree it's fine.

My question is regaurding evidence at the ET.

At my initial compliant i had no represetative, and had problems with the minutes as they were skewed to the companies favour.

At my Grievance i had a union rep

At the outcome my rep walked out as i had taken legal advice re the ET and he could not represent me any longer, the minutes were agaian skewed and missing large tracts.

At the appeal i took in a tape recorder (concealed) and taped everything.

There are very important parts that are missing from thier minutes.

Can i use the audio evidence in the Et to show the disparity between the offical record and the actual event even though i did not have permission to do so.

I have had an informal grievance hearing which i am not happy with, It took five weeks to complete not including a week before they started and it was a totally sham from begining to end.

However they did uphold two of my accusations but refuse to tell me how they are dealing with them or what they will do to make sure that they never happen again.

I lodged a formal grievance and it will now be held this week.

Due to the company taking five weeks to conduct the informal and not being able to start the formal for four weeks due to holidays i do not think that the process will be complete prior to the 90 day disbarment from applying to the ET.

The date of the last incident was the 15th of May.

My union has advised me that i cannot apply to the ET if i am still employed by the company.

The company have brought in an outside HR consultant to help with the formal as i have complained about the companies HR departments handling of the informal.

can anyone help me with the timeframes and what i should do?

I am in the middle of preping my formal grievience, can someone give me a little help with what the relevant legal acts are?

What act and paragraphs would deal with the duty of care an employer has to provide to staff?

What act and papargraphs would deal with a breach of contract due to a failure to provide a duty of care?

I have a date for my formal grievience (finally after four weeks of waiting)

I am complaining about sexual descimination , harrasment, bullying at work as well as the HR departments and managements responce

The company have indicated that an outside consultant will be present along with the Managing Director.

I have checked online and this company provide HR consultancy and legal employment provision to companies.

They also provide ET Insurance.

Are they allowed to have a lawyer present at my formal grievience?

I feel that i am walking into the lions den armed with a feather duster.

can i request to have my lawyer present, whould that not be seen to be fair and reasonable?

If you have indicated to your employers that this customer is abusive and you have a clear record that they, and they have refused to do anything about it, then they are in breach of contract to provide a duty of care.

I don't know if your condition makes any diffrence to the outcome at all.

I would make sure that you record it in writing and that any abuse is witnessed by someone you know you can rely on.

If the company is refusing to address your stress, and it could endanger your or your unborn child's life then they are way outside the 'fair and reasonable' definition used for further action.

Best of luck with number two!

I have four, and it's much easier with two or even three . Four on the other hand is a PITA.

Pay for a lawyer/PI to call and ask for a verbal referance, approx £50.00

Then hit them with a claim.

Dating the bosses kids or thier pals kids is a bad idea. If you broke up so ambically, get the girl to speak to her mum and call the dogs off. If she wont do it, you did'nt break up well (just a thought)

I submitted a questionaire form the Sexual Equalities Commission Today, I had my lawyer prepare it, so it's tight as a drum

i think it's best at the moment to allow the compnay to keep making procedural errors.

I am the compliant and as such they are ones doing all the running.

At this moment i am off sick and i can't see how the company could dismiss or under what grounds

I am in the process of a formal procedure, but will have to apply to the ET before this ends, due to the fact that the HR department have taken 6 weeks to conduct a pre-lim and have now indicated that it will take them another four weeks to conduct a formal (at least!)

I have to register with the ET before the formal will end.

Will the ET frown on this?, will it effect the formal, can the employer stop the formal due to a twin track approach?

I need to send a letter to members of staff asking them to contact my Lawyer to make a statement.

Does anybody have an outline for this?

For instance i know they are under no obligation to attend an interview, or make any statement. But am i right in understanding that if they refuse and hold evidence that i consider to be important to the case that the chairperson of the Et can 'Command' them to attend?

I fully understand that it is highly unlikley that anybody who is put in this position will ake any statement that is supportive of my case, but i need to run a little subterfuge to protect the present employees who are prepared to come forward and make statements.

Should this letter warn of the ET's ability to make people attend?

Should it advise people to seek independant legal advice? (this mainly to cover the advice that the company will give en masse to ignore the letter)

Should i send them to the employees personal address or C/o the compnay address?

Finally how will the ET view this way of collecting evidence, is it normal practice?.

My company refuse to realease any of the case notes to me and i need to gather evidence pre-tribunal

I have been suffering severe harrasment at work.

I am the only female salesperson on an all male sales team.

Over the last 14 months i have subjected to a list of problems that all came to a head in Mid-May of this year. I left the office in tears after yet another bust up with my line manager, and called the compnay HR to tell them of my problems.

HR were very caring at first and arranged a meeting six days later for an informal chat. I turned up for this and although i was led to beleive my husband could be present, HR would not allow him to sit in.

I told HR of all the problems I had been suffering from, and she promised to investigate them. During the process she took lots of notes.

After i had left my husband expressed real concern that the compnay were proceeding in the correct fashion and should have started formal proceedings.

My allegations were centered on Sexual Discrimination, Bullying, Sexual harrasment and Vicitmisation

They promised to call me by the 25th May, but did'nt do so

He contaced a lawyer who then contacted HR to enquire why the 'informal' process was taking so long and if they had suspended the people concern to protect the ingegrity of the evidence.

They replied that it was being conducted according to comapny procedures, and he requested copies of this, which they then refused to supply.

During this process the HR deprtment took ages to reply to emails from myself and the lawyer and still did not supply the procedures.

I eventually got a meeting with them on the 22nd June to hear the results. They say they sent letters to my previous address by mistake, and i had very little time to arrange a witness to be there with me.

I did get a member of staff to agree but when he approached his manager he was told that he could not leave the building to attend. I asked to tape the meeting and they refused, i asked HR to sign my notes, and they refused.

I still attened and found that they had substantiated two of my allegations and dismissed the others. these were the two most minor ones (surprise). I also found out that HR had visited twice and interviewd six staff directly involved and none of the other staff who could support my claims.

They called this an 'Extensive' investigation in all the minutes and paperwork.

I also got copies of the minutes from my first informal chat and found this to be full of inaccurate statements and mistakes. HR were dismissive and farnkly rude that i was not happy with the result or the manner in which they had conducted the entire affair.

During this whold process i have been of ill due to Stress (work realted)

It had now taken over five weeks to get to this point.

The compnay now refuse to tell me what action they are taking on the two claims they upheld or what action they are putting into place to ensure that they never happen again, despite repeated requests to do so.

At this point i requested the companies procudures again and threated to refer the matter to ACAS and legal action. despite them being available on the compnay intranet to took a futher five days for an incomplete set to arrive. I had to request the missing sections again (these dealt with bullying and harrasment, and absence)

Shortly after i found out that the company (despite having a discretionary waiver policy) had put me on SSP.

I lodged a full formal complaint on noting all the earlier allegations as well as the HR departments lack of application in relation to the matter.

I had become aware at this point that a senior manager had sat in on the entire process, i found this unacceptable as he had been one of the parties i had problems with.

He was aware of the harrasment and either was complict or unable to recognise what was happening. I had also become aware of the fact that he had spoken informally to two other members of staff that had supported my claims but no mention of this was made at the reports from the informal investigation.

He either did not pass the information to HR, or they decided to ignore this witness.

I lodegd a full formal greivience and was told that this same senior manager would dela with it. I told this was unacceptable and they agreed to change it to a director at head office.

At this point the company told me that due to holidays they would not deal with this matter until the 20th June. The staff involed would be left in place.

I requested again details of the claims upheld and they refused, i contacted ACAS and the compnay still refused.

I requested all the notes from the infromal process and was told that i could have them , they have now told me i can't have unless the staff involved agree (fat chance)

My problem is that i fully expect them to come back and tell me that the formal hearing will now be even later in the month and if the informal was anything to go by will take several weeks. then there would be an appeal to hear

This will time bar me from making an application to the tribunal. I understand that the tribunal take a dim view of the placing of application prior to all other avenues being exhausted.

One avenue they were atempting was sending me to an Occupational therapist to check i was fit to return to work. He has told them i am not fit to return and it will take months at the very least before i can can consider returning

Any kindred spirits out there?, words of advice?

I feel very alone and completely mistified by the whole process.

Do i see the formal through?, what's the difference between applying for pre April or Post-April?

Help