CASE MANAGEMENT

If the employment judge decides on a review of the ET1 and ET3 (sift stage) that the case should proceed, they will typically issue a case management order, setting out a timetable of steps to be completed to ensure the case is prepared in advance of the final hearing.

Alternatively, they will list a preliminary hearing to consider the case management issues, including timetabling.

PRELIMINARY HEARING

A preliminary hearing is an interim hearing that may be called by the tribunal of its own motion or on the application of one of the parties. There are two main purposes of a preliminary hearing:

To discuss administrative issues such as:

To determine preliminary issues, including:

A preliminary hearing might also be used for judicial assessment of the parties’ respective cases.

If a party requires the tribunal to make a specific order at any stage before the final hearing, they will usually need to make a formal application, either orally at a hearing or in writing.

There are many issues that may be submitted as an interlocutory application, all of which our employment tribunal solicitors can help you prepare. These include:

If a party disagrees with any decision of an employment tribunal or employment judge, they can apply for the decision to be reconsidered. This must be done in writing within 14 days of the date the tribunal sent out the notice of the original decision. As with other stages of employment tribunal claims, our experienced employment tribunal lawyers will be there to help you.

Each party involved in employment tribunal claims is under a duty to disclose to the other party and the tribunal all documents in their possession or control that are relevant to the issues to be determined in the proceedings, whether those documents assist their case or the other party’s case.

It is usual for each party to prepare a chronological list of the relevant documents in their possession or control. The lists are simultaneously exchanged between the parties, who then request copies of any documents from the other party’s list of which they do not have a copy.

In most cases (although not in Scotland), the tribunal will direct that the parties prepare written witness statements setting out the evidence each witness will give at the final hearing. The written statements are then simultaneously exchanged between the parties in advance of the hearing.

Please contact us for information on the current maximum and minimum awards for particular employment tribunal claims as these may change annually.

In addition, you may require assistance to calculate other matters which include redundancy and how to calculate the value of an employee’s loss of pension.

In most cases, the tribunal will direct the claimant to prepare a schedule of loss setting out the monies they are claiming from the respondent. The respondent may wish to serve a counter-schedule setting out its response to each element of compensation claimed.

In certain cases, the respondent may wish to argue that the claimant has failed to adequately mitigate their loss.

In certain types of cases, if one party fails to comply with the requirements of the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures, the level of compensation awarded may be adjusted by the employment tribunal, upwards and downwards.

Due to the extensive advocacy experience of the principal solicitor who has been representing on many employment tribunal claims for the past twenty years, you may be represented from the outset to the conclusion to include the preparation and representation in the tribunal. This is to ensure you feel confident with the person who is representing you and with whom you have been working closely for the months leading up to the employment tribunal. This provides you with the continuity throughout rather than passing you over to another advocate.

In the event of an unsuccessful result, a request may be submitted to ask the tribunal to reconsider its decision if it is believed to be necessary and is in the interests of justice to do so. An application for a reconsideration needs to be made within 14 days of the date on which the decision was sent to the parties.

Additionally or alternatively, an appeal may be submitted to the EAT setting out the grounds of appeal.

Most employment tribunal claims will settle before the final hearing. In many cases, it will be in the respondent’s commercial interests to settle a claim, taking into consideration the legal costs and management time it is likely to spend in defending the claim through to a final hearing. However, there are issues that may arise in connection with the settlement of employment claims which may determine otherwise.

This is a binding agreement between the employer and employee (or other parties to a statutory claim) to settle a case or refrain from instituting or continuing with certain proceedings.

Instead of the involvement of an ACAS conciliation officer there is the additional safeguard that the employee must have received independent legal advice on the agreement.

On 29 July 2013, compromise agreements and compromise contracts were renamed as Settlement Agreements in all relevant pieces of primary legislation.

Not all claims can be compromised by means of a Settlement Agreement. Accrued pension rights and claims for unknown personal injury plus a number of other claims may not be settled.

Mediation is becoming an increasingly popular method of achieving a negotiated settlement between the parties to an employment tribunal claim and is a service A C Employment Solicitors provide as Amanda Capon, the Principal Solicitor, is a CEDR qualified Commercial Mediator.

An employment judge may offer this to the parties in certain types of claim.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) is an independent, impartial organisation which is available to both parties to an employment dispute with regard to possible settlement.

Settlements are usually negotiated between the parties’ solicitors, often conducted via the services provided by ACAS.

As part of its reform of employment law, the Government decided to impose a duty on the parties to attempt conciliation through ACAS before proceedings could be issued in most claims. In many cases, an ACAS conciliator may appear to be little more than a messenger between parties who are represented by solicitors.

Negotiating a settlement package is just one of our areas of expertise, with the solution providing an economical way to resolve a dispute if a conclusion is reached either directly with the party (i.e. employee) concerned or via ACAS.

Once the terms of settlement have been agreed, these will be recorded in a settlement agreement or a COT3 if ACAS has assisted in the negotiations.