Hi, I’ve got an ongoing employment tribunal claim and I desperately need some help completing a schedule of loss. I’ve tried to go through multiple solicitors but I just can’t afford them and I don’t qualify for legal aid. And then add that the CAB has been useless as I just haven’t been able to get through to them either in person or on the phone  Anyway, my first claim was submitted in March last year and my second in February of this year. To begin with it was my ex-employer’s (at the time current) failure to make a reasonable adjustment and also discriminating against me by instating two written warnings against me for time off due to a disability, when they were not willing to consider any adjustments to allow me time off/to make the time up. This resulted in them not paying sick pay (when I was asking to make the time up). They continued to refuse this and subsequently I was dismissed for the same reason, despite and ongoing tribunal claim/case for that reason. The bit I am stuck on is the whole of the schedule of loss. I was dismissed in December and since then I suffered 3 months unemployment and since then I have been on a salary of £12k a year, down from approximately £30k. This means I can certainly claim for loss of earnings, but how much do I claim and how long for. What other things should I claim for and roughly how much should I claim for these? I just have no idea and despite my best efforts the deadline is looming, please help! Thanks Nathan

Hi all, I've raised a Tribunal against my ex-employer on the basis of disability discrimination, including, failure to make a reasonable adjustment and unfair dismissal. More details on the how and why are in my previous post, http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/employment-problems/234563-employment-tribunal-looming-respondent.html Anyway, we have had two days of the tribunal in December and due to the snow in January I am still waiting to reconvene, which I have been advised should be in June/July. During the first two days of Tribunal the respondent admitted that I was disabled and that they had not followed their own policies and procedures when they should have done to combat any detriment due to my disability. Due to the time dragging on and my ex-employers admittance of the facts above, I believe they may be willing to settle so thought I might offer tha the option was available. I have drafted a letter to them, and would like advice on whether this is a good idea or not and if the content of the letter is acceptable. Thanks in advance for any help you can give. "This letter is sent without prejudice. During the course of the previous two days in Tribunal your client's witnesses have admitted that under the DDA they considered that I was disabled. It was also revealed that using their own internal processes, at the point in 2004/2005 when I was on daily medication but still exceeding their “trigger” points they should have done something regarding Occupational Health reports and extending the level of “trigger” points I was allowed. However, they failed to do this and in doing so failed their own internal processes and policies. At this time it would appear that your client has admitted to failing their duty under the DDA and under their own internal policies and procedures. It is my hope that as this has now been admitted in Tribunal, that your client may wish to consider settling this matter outside of Tribunal by way of a settlement. This would stop any potential publicity regarding this claim and save them the potential embarrassment this could cause along with saving them the costs of further tribunal hearings. I look forward to receiving your reply."

Ah well no longer a problem, they dismissed me last Thursday anyway... again cos they aren't willing to make the, more than reasonable, adjustments I've asked for... oh well another tribunal ahead methinks!

Just been dismissed, so I'll appeal that and then probably take them for unlawful dismissal, should be interesting, especially if the reasonable adjustment is agreed by the Tribunal!

We reconvened the disciplinary hearing earlier, and now waiting... and waiting (2 hours so far) to find out the decision. The biggest stupidity about this whole thing, is they have no excuse for the way they've treated me, apart from what I've asked them to do to resolve all the issues is "not policy"! You wouldn't believe what a**eholes these people can be, and this from one of the largest employers in the country! Was going to give a hint as to who it is, but it would be far too obvious... oh sod it, they've recently been bailed out by the government!

That's the intention, though now I'll have to do that after the statements have been exchanged... well at least my statements as they have to amend theirs!

Oh an currently on a short recess in the disciplinary hearing whilst the manager makes a decision as to whether I'm sacked or not

Got a copy of the letter the Tribunal sent to the respondent's solicitors today. They have been told that the Judge is seriously considering throwing their response out, they have until Tuesday next week to provide a reasonable excuse as to why they have not complied with the Case Management Order. Woohoo, let's hope they can't come up with an excuse the Judge thinks is reasonable... Also I'm betting, having spoken to someone at the Tribunal service yesterday, that the Judge won't like what they've done with the statements in addition to farting around with the bundle!

I had one letter from ACAS saying they'd be in contact... guess what, no contact! lol I'm surprised the Tribunal haven't been able to help you, my local office has been really helpful with asking to get their case struck out and have been almost as ****ed off about it all as me! May not be working there after tomorrow as they're currently disciplining me for the same problem I'm taking them to Tribunal for and got a results meeting tomorrow, to me that seems a bit stupid as it's less than two weeks to the Tribunal. Hey hum, I hope they give me the boot, then they open up a massive can of worms! I've been advised by a number of solicitors to just do the whole thing myself as it's an open and shut case at least that gives me confidence.

I wrote to the tribunal and advised them what has happened, they have issued a case strike warning and the respondent has 7 days to sort out the bundle. However, we exchanged statements yesterday, I say yesterday, but there's arrived in my email at 2 minutes to midnight! Their's are unsigned, so I don't really want to start working on them in case they amend them. Had to contact the Tribunal again today as the Case Management Order restricted them to 6000 words for all statements, may seem pedantic but they had gone up to 10,500. I was told to write to the tribunal as they wouldn't be happy if they got presented with that on the day of the tribunal, so you never know, if they keep this up they may get struck out! Hope all goes well and good luck! Wish mine was my ex-employer, would make my life so much easier! I currently have to go into work and sit 5 metres from my manager who's one of their key witnesses, that's not uncomfortable!

Just been sent my employer's statements ready for tribunal, aside from the fact that the Tribunal are annoyed with the respondent as the statements are almost double the length that was set out in the Case Management Order, one of the witnesses they are calling is my manager. As the claim I've raised is a failure to make reasonable adjustments, I'm still working there at the moment. This is making me massively uncomfortable as I'm going to be expected to cross-examine my manager at Tribunal. It strikes me that it is possible that it is not best practice for one or both of us to be in the office (sat 5 metres from each other), as this could influence one or the other of us. Am I correct in my thinking, should I raise this issue or am I making mountains out of molehills?

Quick update on this, woke up this morning to find I had an email from my employer's solicitors last night at 11.45. I believe this is so they can tell the tribunal that I failed to adhere to the case management order as it's would appear that it's now my fault that the documents weren't agreed. However, the bundle they sent me is 244 pages (in a PDF), I can't tell if all of my documents are there and I want a hard copy before I agree it. In addition it's not paginated, as according to the CMO it should have been, and here's the best bit, we were supposed to agree a bundle of 150 pages so as far as I can tell I can go to the tribunal and tell them that the employer is being difficult and has not adhered to the CMO. Am I correct in thinking this?

Got most of my statement already done, just waiting for the documents so I can finish it off, also have a couple of other people who need to see the documents so they can complete their statements. From everything I've had from them, their whole stance seems to be drag their heels as much as possible, and from what I understand from my Union representative it's fairly standard practice for my employer. I work for one of the larger employer's in the country and to say their HR department don't know what they're doing is putting it politely! Thanks

Thanks for the response inline66. Yes the order did state a day for exchange of documents which was today. As stated they contacted me to tell me they would send a list of documents they were going to include, not the actual documents, today and we could apparently agree the contents on the list! I responded that I wanted to see all the documents as I would not necessarily have copies of all those they wanted to include. It's now quarter to six and I still don't even have their list, I'm only concerned due to the short timescale of a week between the documents being agreed and the statements being due, I was thinking along the same lines as applying to have their case struck out. Do you think I have any chance of this? Thanks again

I am currently in the process of taking my employer to Tribunal for failure to make reasonable adjustments under the DDA. I suffer migraine and want to make up any time I have off, so a) I get paid, and b) any absence is not contacted toward disciplinary procedures. Anyway, we’ve had a case management order, the hearing is on the 11th and 12th of next month and statements have to be exchanged by the 1st December, however, before either of those we have to agree and exchange a common bundle of documents, which was supposed to be done by today. I contacted my employer’s solicitors last Tuesday saying that I had a bundle of documents and should I post it to them so they could add anything they wanted and organise it. I had a reply on Wednesday saying that they needed to have their client’s advice on this matter first and they finally replied on Friday afternoon asking me to send them everything I had. I posted the bundle I had on Saturday morning, which they received (I’ve checked on the Royal Mail website) at 7.30 yesterday morning. Now as far as I can see I’ve done everything in my power to keep to the Case Management Order. I waited all morning this morning, expecting to receive a bundle of documents in the post that I could look at and hopefully agree by the end of today. At 2pm today I got an email saying that they had received my bundle and that they were now reviewing it. They would send me a list of all documents that were to be included in the bundle for me to agree. They also advised that they would send a copy of the documents to my home address once the bundle had been agreed, despite previously being told to post everything to my work address as should it be sent to my home there will be no-one home to receive it and it would end up back at the sorting office. I replied to their email stating that I would need to see all documents they wanted to add and also that I would want to see the complete bundle to ensure they had not removed anything I wanted to use in my case before agreeing it. I also stated that they have taken there time over the document bundle as I asked them on Tuesday last week how they wished to proceed and had they come back to me sooner this could have already been finalised. I stated that I felt that they were employing delaying tactics in not agreeing the bundle and that if they should send the document bundle to my home address, this would add further delay and as I had advised them to address it elsewhere I would also view this as a delaying tactic. Obviously this has already happened, but I wanted to get other people’s views as to whether I’ve done the right thing. And I have a few questions: · What would happen if they continue to drag their heels? · What happens if they continue to drag their heels over the document bundle, I only have a week to finish the statements in support of my claim and I require the bundle to do this? · Can I ask the tribunal to strike out their response? Sorry for the long post, and thanks for any help/advice.

Without knowing what your actual illness is, it is possible that you may be covered by the Disability Discrimination Act. This automatically covers HIV, cancer and multiple sclerosis, but also covers many other illnesses if you fall within the rules. Have a look here and see what you think. If you think you may fall within the definition of a disability contact ACAS and get some advice, they should be able to give you some more advice. Although it would all depend on what a reasonable adjustment would be deemed to be. Also, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and to ask an unkownable question, how long is this likely to go on for? As they may consider retirement on ill-health ground.

I would ask for copies of the allegations made and suggest they use a marker pen to hide any personal information. That way they will not breach anyone's privacy rights and gets around their processes.

I would also point out that with flu it is very hard to contract the same strain twice as her body will already have the antibodies present ready to fight it off.

Hi Andie, It sounds as if you would be covered by the Disability Discrimination Act, as I believe this also covers those that care for a disabled person, I would check that out with a professional though! I've had a very quick search using google, and the first thing I came up with is this article EHRC - Recent developments in disability discrimination cases", which states, "The European Court of Justice’s decision in the Coleman case means that people now have rights not to be subjected to direct discrimination or harassment on grounds of their association with a disabled person e.g if they have to care for a disabled child under the employment provisions of the DDA." And as stated on this direct.gov.uk page, Time off for dependants (compassionate leave) : Directgov - Parents, " How much time you're allowed to take off You are allowed 'reasonable' time off to deal with the emergency and make any arrangements that are needed. There's no set amount of time allowed to deal with an unexpected event involving a dependant - it will vary depending on what the event is but for most cases one or two days should be sufficient to deal with the problem. For example, if your child falls ill you can take enough time off to deal with their initial needs, such as taking them to the doctor and arranging for their care. However, you’ll need to make other arrangements if you want to stay off work longer to care for them yourself." As long as your employer has never stated it has a problem with the amount of time off you have taken to care for your child, I don't see they can take you to disciplinary for past occurences, or if they do I think you have a strong case for appeal. I could be wrong however, so if you're really worried get proper legal advice! Hope it helps, Wobbling

Thanks for the quick reply Cal, Unfortunately I'm asking this question after already talking to the ET Judge, who wasn't particularly helpful in advising me what I could claim for! Can anyone else help? Thanks Wobbling

This is my first post on the consumer forums, so let me start by saying hi all and thanks for any advice that you can give me Very quickly let me bring you up to date. I suffer with serious migraine problems, I used to only get these once every 3 to 5 weeks, however they completely knock me out, I am unable to walk, can't concentrate because of the pain, have no co-ordination, light and sound sensitivity and will occasionally pass out. I also suffer abdominal migraines which effectively confine me to the bathroom... no further explanation needed I think! lol Basically I have been suffering with these since I was 13/14 years old, so for about the last 15 years. My current employer was advised by a previous employer that I suffered with migraine when I joined the company in 2000, and have a long history on my absence records of migraine and stomach problems (abdominal migraine was not diagnosed until late 2008). As a result of the amount of time off I have with migraine I breach my companies "trigger points" for absence, which are 4 occasions/14 days in a 12 month rolling period (I have done since the day I joined the company!). Anyway as a result I have been issued a first and then a final written warning, the latter being issued at the beginning of the year. I appealled the final warning and also lodged a greivance and greivance appeal on the basis of no reasonable adjustment being made for allowing me time off for migraine attacks (I suggested either discounting the migraine related absences for "trigger points" or allowing me to make up the time). No agreement has been reached and the case is going to tribunal, I am fairly confident that failure to make reasonable adjustments under the DDA can be proven. However, one of the things the employment tribunal has asked me for is a schedule of loss. Since the date of the final written warning, sick pay has been stopped (although not SSP), I can prove that if I were not under a written warning I would still be in receipt of sick pay, so I am including this in the schedule of loss. However, in previous years in order to avoid disciplinary and at the urging of local management I have often taken holiday instead of claiming a sick day. I intend to also include this in the schedule of loss. Do you think this would be acceptable? Also, I have had to obtain a medical report from my GP for the tribunal at a cost of £50. Is this also claimable? In addition to this is there anything else I could/should include in the statement of loss, for example damage to feelings or undue stress? Thanks again for any help you can give me and apologies for the long first post!