Employment Tribunal outside 3 months - Options?

[et1978]

Hello

 

I resigned from my job last June as I uncovered alot of dodgy dealings that my Manager was doing. I had been singled out and had not been given voluntary redundancy when requested.

I used the Companys Whistleblowing procedure to air my views and to expose what had been happening.

 

The Manager has just been sacked and the investigation has just finished.

 

Am I able to take my employer to Civil Court for compensation at all? I know im out of time for the employment tribunal route and wondered what my options were?

Edited February 26, 2014 by honeybee13

[Emmzzi]

Hi, what do you want to be compensated for please?

[SweetLorraine]

Hi et1978,

 

on the upside you may have been spared the vagaries and anguish of the et process, it is not as 'user' friendly as you might imagine.

 

As a non-legal person I have no idea about what you might do in a civil court.

 

You may take some sort of satisfaction if the manager's sacking makes you feel vindicated. Perhaps its time to move on. How would you feel about that?

[et1978]

Whilst Im happy that the Manager has now been sacked and removed from post. My query was that 6 staff members all applied for voluntary redundancy and I was refused. The other 5 got it. I had a run in with my manager and uncovered the dodgy dealings that were happening. I had to resign as I felt my situation had become untenble there.

Edited February 26, 2014 by honeybee13

[Emmzzi]

Why were you refused? I'm not clear on that. What was the order of events?

[et1978]

1. Discovered skullduggery

2. Applied for VR

3. Manager refused VR

4. Resigned and whisteblowed June 2013

5. Investigation completed and Manager sacked Feb 2014

 

Thanks

5.

Edited February 26, 2014 by honeybee13

[Emmzzi]

And what reason were you given for your VR being refused?

[SweetLorraine]

Hi again et1978,

 

how long had you been working for your employer?

[Lookingforjustice]

I would lodge a complaint with the company of unfair treatment. The situation led to constructive dismissal and you can ask for compensation ie to be given VR retrospectively.

However being treated unfairly is not going to get you into a tribunal unless you were treated unfairly because of you age, gender, religion etc

Where you ill and unable to work because of the situation. If you are claiming victimisation as a result of whistleblowing against your claim should have been in. The three months is fixed but there are cases that have been heard outside of the three months. Usually it isn't this long as there was nothing to stop you putting an ET1 in before now. You can put an ET1 in now but the company is going to argue vigorously that you are out of time. You also need to show in the ET1 that you gave the company an opportunity to put this right. So put the complaint in first immediately followed by the ET1 to the court if you want to risk the money. You will need some case law that supports your application to be accepted and heard. See bailli.org but it is not easy to search and you have to pay to go to a tribunal. Ask someone on the forum with access to one of the law sites Westlaw etc (normally available to the legal profession only) if they would search the case law for something which fits your circumstances. You really need a couple of cases to be in with a chance. This is only a chance but maybe the company might do the right thing if you ask for the resolution to be something they are in a position to give. You may be setting yourself up for more disappointment and the loss of the ET fee on top of what has already happened and the way to go may be forward and not back. Only you can make that decision but preparing for an ET is time consuming on what may be an emotional and financially draining issue and will impact not only you but for your family as well.

 

Check your home contents insurance policy to see if you have legal advice coverage usually an extra these day and they may decline to help as you are out of time unless you can give them a very good reason and legal argument as to why they should agree to pay. You may have to apply more than once. The Citizens Advice bureau is a good port of call for a referral to the National Pro Bono unit or the Free Representational Unit (limited coverage in the country) and you can only get onto the system once you have been given a court date. There is no guarantee even if you get to this stage that you will actually get any help. There is community legal advice centres but there are very overworked and I'm not sure they would even want to try to argue a case for being out of time. You can only ask. If you pay for a solicitor yourself going to a tribunal is likely to cost you are £50K in fees through to the end. If you pay for legal advice initially you cannot change and ask for free legal advice afterwards.

 

You could try speaking to your MP. Maybe just to explain about the dilemma many many people find themselves in but the Government is clearly trying to stop ordinary individuals for seeking justice and on the side of the employers. It is simply not a problem for the employer to treat employees unfairly or sacrifice individuals to cover up incompetence or worse in management

 

Life is neither fair or just. Personally I don't believe justice exists in this country anymore except for the very wealthy. If you are looking for revenge then focusing on being a success elsewhere ,will I believe be the most beneficial to you in the long run.

 

Good luck whichever way you chose to go

[honeybee13]

Et1978, why have you deleted all your posts please? I see you're viewing the thread.

 

People have taken the time to answer you, it's not fair to remove your questions.

 

HB

Edited February 26, 2014 by honeybee13