Making a claim in the Employment Tribunal
Read our step-by-step guides to help you understand and manage the employment tribunal process.
More often than not the Tribunal will provide both parties with a case management order. This outlines the steps both parties need to take before they reach their final hearing. These include dates by which the parties must comply.
These orders include the deadline to provide the following:
- Schedule of loss
- Disclosure of medical evidence
- Disability impact statements
- Disclosure of evidence
- Final bundle
- Exchange of witness statements
- List of issues
- Cast list
What do I need to do?
The order itself may provide details around what must be included in each of the tasks, however it may be necessary to seek your own legal advice if you are unsure as to your obligations. You must comply with each order by the deadline set by the tribunal and supply the requested information to the other side and the tribunal itself.
Are the deadlines flexible?
Each case management order can usually be varied by up to 14 days from the original deadline if both parties consent to this. Therefore, if you do not believe that you are able to meet a deadline you must contact the opposing party and see if you can obtain their agreement to push the date back by no more than two weeks.
If you require more than 14 days after the deadline to comply, then you may need to write to the tribunal and formally request an extension. Any request to the tribunal must be made before you reach the deadline and must comply with the overriding objective.
What happens if I don’t comply?
If you have failed to comply with an order, you may be fined by the tribunal, and this is usually expressly stated in the case management order itself. The opposing party may also make an application to the tribunal to request that you receive a sanction for failing to comply. This may be cost-related or may prohibit you from engaging further with the process.
Top Tips for Case Management
- Keep all your paperwork.
- Start your bundle early with all relevant documents.
- Give yourself plenty of time to comply and set alerts for the weeks leading up to major deadlines.
- Get legal advice as soon as you can if you are unsure.
How can we help?
To ensure that your claim has the best chance of success, you may need to seek legal advice. It can be much harder to catch up if you are behind with deadlines and the tribunal can be very strict with its limitations, often requiring specific orders from the judge who is handling the claim.
We are highly experienced in managing caseloads within the employment tribunal and will be able to provide you with advice along with an honest assessment of whether your claim is likely to succeed.
We are in Your Corner
For advice or for a free assessment contact us today
