EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT LETTER
PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY

To

Dear

EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS - YOUR RIGHTS

Following your consultation with us recently, you should be aware of your rights:

1. Employees (full or part-time) who think they have been unfairly dismissed may seek a legal remedy by complaining to an Employment Tribunal. To bring an unfair dismissal claim, there is normally a service qualification of one year. There is no such qualifying period in certain types of dismissal e.g. on pregnancy grounds.
2. However, there must be strong evidence to support any case, which goes to an Employment Tribunal. These Tribunals can now be quite legalistic and employers do not have to prove "guilt" as in a criminal trial. Tribunals consider the reason for the dismissal and whether the manager acted reasonably in all the circumstances "within a band of reasonable responses". This means that one manager could take a more strict view than another in similar circumstances and still escape a finding of unfair dismissal. In this regard, managers are allowed considerable scope and discretion. Employers invariably engage lawyers to defend such actions. In accordance with Conference policy and our rules, the Union will consider representing your case very carefully at CWU Headquarters, but it may not be able to assist if it does not believe that there are realistic prospects for a successful application because of factual or legal difficulties.
3. Although there is no service qualification, discrimination cases are usually even much more complex and in these cases the employees must prove their allegations. They often require the issue of specialist questionnaires to employers before a decision can be made whether to issue a Tribunal application. All the businesses where our members work have special internal grievance procedures, which must be followed before a Tribunal will intervene. Branches and representatives will be involved in these internal procedures primarily and assistance is also available from the Equalities Department at Headquarters.
4. Any application to the Employment Tribunal MUST be received at the Office of the Tribunal within strict time limits. In the case of unfair dismissal, the form must be lodged with the Tribunal Offices not later than three calendar months starting the date your employment ends. In discrimination cases, it is 3 months from the date the last incident complained of occurred. A form ET1 and an explanatory booklet "How to apply to an Employment Tribunal" for this purpose can be obtained from your local Employment Office. If you wish to make any application, please act now.

Please let me know if you do decide to make an application the Employment Tribunal and require Union assistance. Please include all relevant correspondence and other papers so that the matter can be fully considered in the very short timescales permitted. Any communication from the Tribunal office, ACAS or the employer's solicitors must be forwarded as soon as received.

However, no promise of assistance with the Hearing can be given at this time, nor must this letter be seen as any commitment to represent or assist you. A request for assistance will be considered on its merits by the Union.

Yours sincerely

Jeff Thomas
Branch Secretary