Tribunal hearing Gross misconduct

[yawnroc]

Hi

The case is about to go into court i cannot really say too much on what had happened. But anyway i was sacked not given any right to appeal, nothing was given in writing and the allegations of leaving something on a desk that was needed for my work really does not come into Gross misconduct.

So what is happening now is that ACAS contacted me and stated that the other side had agreed that they felt the case was unsafe and feel that it would not be in their interest to pursue it. They made an offer of £1,000 which i totally refused and stated no i would still be taking this to the employment Tribunal. I had already won the first stage as the pre hearing was to establish if i was self employed or an Employee which i had always stated to this company i was. The judgment was found in my favour.

However the other side now state that they intend to attempt to lower my compensation claim which is around £25,000 do they have a leg to stand on?

[honeybee13]

Hello again. Does this relate to your last Employment Tribunal thread? A link might be useful to the caggers on the forum.

 

My best, HB

[SarEl]

We couldn't possibly know. Once a tribunal has made a judgement, the only possible appeal is to an EAT and that must be on a point of law. Whether they have found one or not we couldn't know. You must speak to the Tribunal Office about this - there is a time limit for payment, and if an appeal is lodged they will know.

[yawnroc]

No sorry had to leave this unexpectedly so the ending was not correct. Yes this was to do with my last thread. However like i said i attended the Pre Hearing and the pre hearing found in my favour that i was in fact an employee. Based on that hearing plus the fact that evidence against the other side that the dismissal was unlawful the other side have caved in to a certain extent. However the fact now is that they intend to attempt to prove in some way that the dismissal i was partly to blame for which is total crap and i have very good evidence to prove that in no way was anything partly my fault. The fact that i had became very ill and this would have amounted to someone or myself being killed i took a positive approach by stating to my superiors that i needed to go home as i was not well at all. This was largely down to health and safety reasons and i was not in any fit condition to do my job. I had notified all concerned before going home . I have never just walked off site not ever! and have always done my job well and would cover for anyone going sick. Walking off site was never in my nature and something i would never do and did not do here even though i was placing myself in a very dangerous situation where by my actions i could have killed myself or have killed someone.

I am just asking is there anything at all i should be concerned about here and what advice could i get here with how i handle them in such a situation as them attempting to lower any compensation.

Thankyou.

[IdaInFife]

for ref: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?285149-Employment-Tribunal-hearing-date-help-please!&highlight=

[yawnroc]

Thankyou i was just about to post a link but seeing as you have done so no need to now. Thankyou for this!

[yawnroc]

Sorry also i must stress and point out that when i was sacked i was given nothing in writing, I was not asked to attend any formal meeting in which i was allowed to give my version of events or at least be given a chance of explaining myself. I was given absolutely nothing in writing. And nothing there after was ever put in writing concerning my dismissal. I had also attempted to contact my employer to try to get some formal meeting together where i would have a witness present so i could at least get to the bottom of what had happened and they would have clearly seen i was not to blame. However they ignored repeated attempts to get some sort of meeting together. It was me in the beginning who contacted ACAS and they attempted to get some kind of mediation together. However they were also opposed to even trying to talk to me that ACAS finally told me to You maybe better off taking this to An Employment Tribunal which i did.

[postggj]

is this unfair dismissal with your et claim

 

seems cut and dry to me

Edited December 5, 2010 by postggj

[yawnroc]

Thankyou

[SarEl]

No sorry had to leave this unexpectedly so the ending was not correct. Yes this was to do with my last thread. However like i said i attended the Pre Hearing and the pre hearing found in my favour that i was in fact an employee. Based on that hearing plus the fact that evidence against the other side that the dismissal was unlawful the other side have caved in to a certain extent. However the fact now is that they intend to attempt to prove in some way that the dismissal i was partly to blame for which is total crap and i have very good evidence to prove that in no way was anything partly my fault. The fact that i had became very ill and this would have amounted to someone or myself being killed i took a positive approach by stating to my superiors that i needed to go home as i was not well at all. This was largely down to health and safety reasons and i was not in any fit condition to do my job. I had notified all concerned before going home . I have never just walked off site not ever! and have always done my job well and would cover for anyone going sick. Walking off site was never in my nature and something i would never do and did not do here even though i was placing myself in a very dangerous situation where by my actions i could have killed myself or have killed someone.

I am just asking is there anything at all i should be concerned about here and what advice could i get here with how i handle them in such a situation as them attempting to lower any compensation.

Thankyou.

 

I am sorry but this is a legitimate mitigation for the employer. I handle many tribunal hearings, and the one thing that I know is that nothing is ever cut and dried. I have seen cases where the dismissal was ruled automatically unfair by the tribunal, but the claimant has still walked out with nothing! This is because of something called the Polkey Principle (you can google it). Very simply, the employer can argue that the action would have resulted in a dismissal regardless of faults in the process, and that the award should therefore be reduced. Based on your side of the story I cannot see that such an argument would be successful. But obviously I am hearing your side of the story and a very cut down version of it at that. I cannot take into account the employers side of the story, as a tribunal will.

 

There is really nothing that you can do except tell the truth. The tribunal will decide whether there are grounds to reduce compensation based on what they hear.

[yawnroc]

That is all i can do telling the Truth is something i have been doing all the way through this case which has been a complete nightmare and certainly not cut and dry or in an ideal world easy. I have been totally let down by total idiot solicitors leaving me hanging. Not being able to get this on a no win no fee basis. And the very solicitors who were going to take the case on who were recommended from the CAB were totally useless basically losing everything that i sent them wasting time. While this was going on i contacted a company Going Legal i had an hour long consultation talk and they seemed to be desperate to take the case and appoint me a solicitor. They sent me out an information pack in which i signed for their services and was promised within the next two weeks i would be appointed a solicitor. However i told them the pre hearing was coming up soon and needed someone to represent me.That was about 4 to 5 weeks away and they told me that they may not get a solicitor in that time which they did not but promised me the Thursday after that they would be back with a solicitor. Well i represented myself at the Pre hearing being very cautious of the otherside's solicitor as i did not want to give anything away fearing that this might prejudice me in some way.

 

The following Thursday Going Legal contacted me although in between i did ring them telling them i needed this solicitor and quick, I was told they would be back on the Thursday. They did but then told me they had found a solicitor who wanted to take the case on but because it was too close to the hearing about a month away the solicitor would need time to prepare the case so they asked me to write to the Tribunal asking for an adjournment. I was a little peed off to say the least knowing that they had promised me a solicitor and still i was having to do this. They told me exactly what to write to the court so under their direction i wrote to the court. A couple of days went by and i decided to ring the court to see if any decision had been made. It had and the judge stated that i had been given enough time to get representation! Yes they were correct but i had been messed about from pillar to post!

I contacted Going Legal and told them what had been said and they told me there was nothing more they could do i went bleeding spare!

 

I then spent about 10 minutes going through the telephone book and then found another Solicitor, i spent an entire day putting all the documents together in a bundle and took them down and handed them in personally. Only then to receive an email from the Solicitor telling me he could not take the case on a no win no fee basis as it was too near the trial, In yet he had me wasting my time and fuel getting all this together for him. But if i paid him he would take it on.. Out of order!

So i have been the one putting all this together and i am not a solicitor and do not profess to be either. Its been a roller coaster ride and not a very pleasant one. Not too nice to be under a doctor being treated for severe depression. When i say contemplated taking my own life over this i mean it because the amount of damage this has done to me is out of this world.

 

I have not been able to get another Job despite me applying for lots of different positions and has since reduced me to being on ESA now which i damn well detest being on.