Employment Tribunal Disability Discrimination
I have just had a claim accepted by the employment tribunal for disability discrimination and a preliminary hearing date for January. Has anyone been through this? I would be interested to hear experiences of the process. My employer didnt really engage with early conciliation. I don't know if that will change now or not but my ideal senario is resolving issues so I feel safe to return to work. Have you found employers engage more once a claim has been accepted? How did you find ACAS in conciliation as in early conciliation I was really disappointed as they barely seemed to make any effort to communicate with me or my employer. Ant advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
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Hi, I went through this a few years ago now, I claimed for unfair dismissal, disability discrimination failure to make reasonable adjustments & breach of contract re notice pay…as was manager at a couple of NatWest banks, (I went off with what was eventually diagnosed Bipolar disorder)
it took over a year to get to the tribunal, the tribunal in Manchester took 3 days at which a reserved judgment was issued, approximately a month & half later the judgement came through and I won on all points unanimously. RBS (owner of Nat west)appealed on the last hour of the last day (56days to appeal back then) so I had to go to London for the appeals tribunal, I won, (RBS appealed last hour of the 56 days 3 more times) I won them all, eventually being awarded £126000….from start to finish it took over 5 years of my life, I would have earned way more than my award in the 5 years tho.
if I can be of any help to you please let me know.
I learned a lot in them years, I couldn’t afford a proper solicitor or barrister for appeals so did most of the work myself…..6 -
Hi. Any help welcomed. Cannot afford solicitor, been issued with early conciliation certificate and worried about next steps, trying to get someone to represent me but not looking hopefully. Disability discrimination/attempts to remove adjustments/harassment and non approval for reduced workload. Have a lung condition and suffer extreme fatigue and workload not allowing breaks leaving me burnt-out? Will not hear as grievance employer dragging feet?0
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I'm in the same situation now (Well before that stage currently in Early Conciliation with the deadline end of Oct then I can apply to take to tribunal if I need to) and diagnosed Bipolar One
I guess the way I see it even if it does take years for tribunal ACAS are telling me seek legal advice but I am finding that really hard to get so I guess I can just box it off in my head and let it go to tribunal as they are the ones who will know the law. My case is so complex but I already compiled a lot of info and am going to just print it off and make a file in case I can find anyone able to give me legal advice!0 -
Hi thank you for the replies. I found ACAS awful for early conciliation. They barely did anything and just let the time lapse. I have found the Disability Union really helpful. They are not a trade union so cannot sit in on meetings but have been great for advice, moral support and checking documents. I had to make a decision between tribunal claim or personal injury in the civil courts. When I was considering personal injury, oakwood solicitors were amazing. They do no win no fee if you're eligible and have given really good advice. I've not paid them a penny and despite me opting for the tribunal for various reasons, they have put my case on hold and offered to check any settlement offer for me. They also read through all my documents, which is a lot. My case is also complex and gave me advice on the merits of my case. They also requested all documents about me from work so I have all that. I really feel for anyone in this situation. It's been horrendous and unbearable. It's bad enough having a mental health condition without your employer making it worse and seemingly punishing you for it. I wish you all the best.0
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Hi Mango My employer failed to respond to early conciliation and I received the certificate and have completed ET1 and sent to the court, they now have 4 weeks to respond or will be out the loop, but have a preliminary hearing date for jan 24, so 4-6 months process in total from getting the certificate. I have struggled to get legal advice, there is no citizen advice anymore, not sure of your area but university law schools offer during term time alongside a quality solicitor and they have online training to prepare for the tribunal. Try equality advisory service 0808 800 0082/ disability law service 02077919800/ law works 020 7092 3940, it is very daunting but remember you were never expected to know the law.0
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Thanks I've found a uni and submitted an enquiry so hope it gets selected!
With mine I am just in the middle, old company said all liability goes to new one on TUPE and the new one says no! They can't investigated and they did not even receive the grievance! (So already I think something has broken as by law the company is meant to submit all liability info on TUPE)
The old company has responded but still the stuff they say is contradictory I had called equality advisory before and they said it sounds like disability discrimination again all I find with numers like ACAS, scope and d & equalities is they just say stuff like it sounds very like discrimination etc need to get legal advice and with TUPE is is complex so maybe some of them don't know but main thing is where does liability lie0 -
Hope you get sorted with the university it sounds promising you will get the preliminary hearing agenda which looks difficult to complete but university said they will help with that too. Win no fee solicitor's not useful I hope like myself you get support from university0
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There is free legal advice with the birmingham peoples centre also or they could direct you to your area0
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Curiously, we are expected to know the law!
Upon Royal Assent in Parliament, it is deemed that we have all read the new legislation.
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Hi @Mango123, the liability does lie with the company you TUPE into so you would raise tribunal against them and they can then sue old company for providing incorrect ELI data during transfer. For your purposes your current company is responsible for historic issues.
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Hi @malice88 thanks for your comment, that's interesting to know. My old company is saying it would have been handled and sent over to them, I know the new company did receive the grievance as it was sent from my free legal advisor and the new company said nothing received and can't investigate the grievance they made me redundant immediate due to ETO
So maybe it was sent over and the new company is misleading me? Maybe they thought by them saying that I would not put them on the ACAS conciliation form? But I did..0 -
@Mango123 so one thing you could do is submit a Subject Access Request (SAR) to both companies. They legally have to provide you with the information within 30 days. To speed it up, be specific I.e. 'I would like all records relating to any grievance process' or 'all ELI data provided relating to my transfer'. Do some research on SAR if you've not come across it before.
Either way, it's still your new company with the liability. If the old company is correct they sent it then its their responsibility, if the old company didn't share it its still the new companies responsibility, they just have to sue the old company once settling/fighting your claim.
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Well I do have email confirmation from the free legal advice which confirms they were sent the grievance by them, yeah I know about SAR I could submit that. Then if that shows it was sent I have email from the new employer actually saying they did not receive it!
It's a big company though so it seems odd they would do something like that if that's really bad Like they lied they never had it when I know they did? Unless they thought by doing so I would only raise ACAS early conciliation to the old company and the 3 month deadline pass. Glad I put both on now0 -
@Mango123 it sounds like you've followed the correct processes so far. It's a toss up between incompetence or intentional avoidance I suppose! It won't make much difference in the final processes though, the importance of evidencing a grievance process is to show you've exhausted all internal resolutions before going to tribunal, and potentially that the grievance outcome was inherently discriminatory. Did you appeal your grievance outcome? That is something courts will consider too, that you have exhausted all internal processes before conciliation.0
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Curiously, we are expected to know the law!
Upon Royal Assent in Parliament, it is assumed we have all read the new legislation.
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