is this unfair?

[honeybee13]

Hi there and hello again. I very much doubt if the lawyers decide who's covered by the DDA, that's not logical. I agree with robbond that the other side are just posturing and trying to frighten you. You've come so far and been so focussed and logical youselves that I really don't see why you should give up now. I think the other side are just panicking and trying to get you drop it all.

 

I don't understand why you should. The swines.

 

HB x

[robbond55]

I have a book which is well worth getting and it is 'The Disability Rights Handbook, which is published anually by the Disability Alliance.

The DDA has been amended in 2005 so there are two versions, the 1995 and 2005 DDA and the latest one covers people with certain conditions from the point of diagnosis regardless of whether symptoms are showing are not.

The DDA also defines disability as "as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term effect on [your] ability to carry out normal day to day activities".

The handbook also states that if you can show that you come within this definition, you will have protection of the Act.

If you want to drop me your e-mail address I can send the 3 and a half pages on the DDA as PDF files for you to look at.

[honeybee13]

For what it's worth, a condition is covered by the DDA if it has lasted or is expected to last more then 12 months, I believe.

 

I hope you and your GF are bearing up.

 

My best to you both, as ever, HB.

[surreyguy]

Hi all and once again , thank you for the replies.

 

Robbond , yes , i will take you up on the offer of the email so will send you a pm containing my email address . The DDA should make for interesting reading.

 

I HAVE read on the net information about the act but have to admit i didnt know it had been updated in 2005 , anytime the respondents solicitor quotes it to us its always the 1995 act she quotes ?

 

According to the solicitor , the respondent company claim that they were unaware that my partner had a very serious illness........funny that because in the past 3 years my partner has been absent from work OWING to this illness for a total of 13 months !!!!!! During which time we kept the company full informed as to what was happening and they even paid her whilst she was ill !!!

 

I will send that pm off now Robbond.

 

Thanks again

[Bigredbus]

As rightly stated by 'honeybee13', the DDA gives definition of 'disability' as follows:

 

Meaning of 'disability' and 'disabled person'

(1) Subject to the provisions of Schedule 1, a person has a disability for the purposes of this Act if he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

[surreyguy]

Hi BRB

 

Yes , i would be 99% certain that my girlfriends condition would be covered by the act .

 

She has suffered from this condition since 1998 and has been told that she will suffer it for the rest of her life . She takes many medications for this condition on a daily basis.

 

Her condition really does have an impact on her life.

 

Thanks again

 

Guy

[Bigredbus]

No problem 'surreyguy'...

 

We are all behind you and Mrs 'surreyguy'...

[honeybee13]

Indeed we are with you both. These people do sound idiotic to my simple mind.

 

Love to you both, HB

[Bigredbus]

Hi Mr & Mrs 'surreyguy',

 

No news, good news... we all hope for you both!

[surreyguy]

Hi everyone !

 

How have you all been .?

 

Hopefully some of the regulars will remember me......it was my girlfriend who was drug tested by her now ex employer and the test was mixed up with the test of another employee .

 

Girlfriend was sacked for intoxication but has since proved that the tests were switched....

 

I cant seem to find my other post so will update here:

 

Ok , since i last posted , i have been attempting to get all the discoverable docs from the other side . The respondents solicitor has done all he can to hinder the case.

 

I have telephoned , written , emailed , everything but no matter what i ask for they flat out ignore me !

 

The documents which i have received ALL had to be ordered by the tribunal office.

 

Seriously , in the months since this all began , i think i have received just one letter from the solicitor.

 

The discoverable documents were received so close to the CMD (just ONE day before:mad:) that i didnt have time to go through them thoroughly before the cmd , hence the reason i am STILL having to ask for them.

 

I have never known such a lax solicitor so either he is playing the game hoping that we will give up and walk away or he has something up his sleeve....

 

Any way ..... owing to the fact that the case is due to be hear in a matter of weeks and i am still without a lot of important documents , i wrote one final letter to the solicitor telling him that his reluctance to release the needed documents would force me to contact the tribunal office asking for an order to be made......and once again he TOTALLY ignored me !

 

I then carried out my "threat" and contacted the tribunal office . I wrote a very lengthy email to them telling them EVERYTHING .... how the solicitor simply refusing to enter into correspondence and how im worried about the joint bundle preparation as it is due to be compiled (by the respondent solicitor , as arranged during the cmd) and handed in to the tribunal office very soon.

 

What now worries me is that yesterday i received a letter from the tribunal office saying that a second cmd is going to be held next week !!!

 

Now , this could be for one of two reasons

 

1) They are going to "tell me off" for copying all the emails i have sent to the solicitor - as i copied SOME of them to the tribunal office . They asl ocould be angry with the lengthy email i sent informing them of the solicitors lack of communication.

 

OR

 

2) They are un-happy with the solicitor and are planning on ordering her to comply.

 

Has anyone any experience of a second cmd being called just a few weeks before the hearing ?

 

Thanks

 

Surreyguy

[honeybee13]

Hi surreyguy, I wondered how you were getting on. How is your girlfriend?

 

If you want your threads merged, you could click the red triangle on the bottom left of your post and ask someone clever in the site team to merge them.

 

Sorry to hear about the lawyer being an ar@e, but it happens. Have you spoken to the tribunal office since this? I don't know if you're able to have it rescheduled, but maybe you don't want that.

 

I hope someone will be along soon, but there seems to be football on the TV....... .

 

HB

[maroondevo52]

Two threads merged.

[surreyguy]

Hi surreyguy, I wondered how you were getting on. How is your girlfriend?

 

If you want your threads merged, you could click the red triangle on the bottom left of your post and ask someone clever in the site team to merge them.

 

Sorry to hear about the lawyer being an ar@e, but it happens. Have you spoken to the tribunal office since this? I don't know if you're able to have it rescheduled, but maybe you don't want that.

 

I hope someone will be along soon, but there seems to be football on the TV....... .

 

HB

 

 

Hi Honeybee.

 

Thanks for your response.

 

My Girlfriend is doing ok . She has since found a new job and is settling in very well .

 

Things just seem to have come to a standstill in the case. We have done all we can to get the information from the solicitor but to no avail so i suppose a second cmd MAY be beneficial.

 

I cant help but think this is being held to deal with the solicitor and his non compliance.

 

Anyhow , theres no point in worrying......we have adhered to all our deadlines and provided everyhting that has been requested of us so hopefully we have no need to worry .

 

i will post back next week to let you all know how it went.

 

Speak soon

 

Guy

[surreyguy]

Maroon

 

Thanks for merging the threads. I did search for the old one but just couldnt find it.

 

Thanks again

 

Guy

[honeybee13]

Good luck, we look forward to some good news.

 

HBx

[goldie66]

Hi Surreyguy,

I don't have much to do with Employment Tribunals but I do attend tribunals on behalf of my employer as 'the respondent' regularly and they do follow the same basic rules. This meeting next week, I'm positive, will be to deal with non-compliance of previous directions. Tribunal panels get upset when directions aren't followed, especially by those legally qualified.

 

Good luck and you've done nothing wrong in sending stuff to Tribunal Service at all, their job is merely to collate info and ensure everything is available to the panel members.

 

G66

[qa19]

wow can't believe a company would treat someone this way.. and to not even allow a second sample. Any sensible company would also keep the sample taken in case it went to court.. let me guess they didn't? Something smells fishy to me.

[robbond55]

Hi Surry -

I think that because the tribunal service is interest in fairness that the hearing should be for the solicitor to receive a smack on the wrist from the tribunal service.

Fingers crossed for you - I sometimes think these cases are like Newtons law of opposing forces - one has to give and in this case the solicitor is hoping that you will give up!

In your case I hope that you will continue to fight and that the solicitor is just being an a**e for the sake of it and if you think then if the solicitor is directly employed by the ex employers i.e salaried then they have noting to lose by behaving like this.

Hopefully the hearing will sort them out!

[honeybee13]

Surreyguy, do you have an update for us please? I hope all is well with you.

 

HB

[NitrousOxide]

Whenever you send something to the tribunal direct it is actually put before the bench.

They may have taken note of what you said and are asking the solicitor what they are doing.If it is this they will ask what documents you need.

[mariefab]

If the Respondents are unreasonably failing to disclose documents; perhaps the Tribunal intend to make an unless order.

 

Unless orders | Employment Tribunal Claims

[surreyguy]

Hi all , just a quick update.

 

Well , we attended the second cmd and needless to say , the solicitor DIDNT get a smack on the wrists but we DID !

 

We were presented with orders to release loads of documents and additional info to the other side !

 

All of the stuff we were ordered to release was stuff that we had already given to them AGES ago !

 

I have to say....their solicitor is good !

 

they are like a determined dog with a bloody bone....i just know that they are not going to give up...this is going all the way to a full hearing !

 

Believe it or not thats actually the "GOOD" news , the bad news is that yesterday i received a letter saying that a THIRD case management discussion has been arranged for friday 9th july.....this meting is being called because they believed that we are concealing past/current drug use/addiction in my girlfriends medical notes (?) they seem to think we have asked our gp to release the medical records but LEAVE out certain pages ....honestly , this solicitor is either a complete nutter or she is just trying to wear us both down so we give up and call the case off !

 

To be honest , although i am determined that I WILL NOT give up , i can fully now understand why some people DO !

 

This seems to have been going on for ever now and we both cant wait til its over and we can move on from it....

[mariefab]

this meting is being called because they believed that we are concealing past/current drug use/addiction in my girlfriends medical notes (?) they seem to think we have asked our gp to release the medical records but LEAVE out certain pages ....

 

In that case, your girlfriend needs to get a letter contradicting this from her GP pronto to present at the next CMD.

 

Also, make sure that every time you send anything to the Respondent's representative you do so by recorded/special delivery.

Edited July 3, 2010 by mariefab
addition

[surreyguy]

Thanks Mariefab.

 

Yes , my partner is going to go to her gp tomorrow to get a letter declaring that nothing has been concealed .

 

The solicitor started off by requesting that my partners gp supply just the medical records which relate to her illnesses , NOW the solicitor has decided that they would like EVERYTHING from my partners medical history with her gp to be released....can they do this ?

 

I think everyone has little things within their medical notes that they wouldnt appreciate a solicitor snooping round .

 

Theres nothing juicy in them though , its details of a miscarrige suffered by my partner a few years back , thats private and we would rather it wasnt made public knowledge ..... also details of "womens stuff" lol as my partner calls it that she doesnt want a snooty solicitor knowing...

 

So...do they have the legal right to demand that the WHOLE file is released ?

[mariefab]

I'm afraid that I don't know.

 

However, if your girlfriend is not prepared to allow them to access the whole of her medical records, perhaps her GP would be prepared to write that 'absolutely nothing that could indicate any possible past or present drug use/misuse has been omitted from the medical records already disclosed'.

Hopefully, that should prevent them from being able to suggest a potential concealment.

 

I'm assuming that any visits to her GP, and their consequences, GP since the date of the random drug test have already been disclosed.

Edited July 3, 2010 by mariefab
addition