Employment Tribunals
 

Anyone had recent experience of Employment Tribunals. If so was it easy enough to represent yourself?

wouldnt recommend it, i work for unite the union.

Why not?

as a proper representative will know the legal ins and outs and if you dont you could end up getting yourself the sack if your job is on the line.

also if you are in a union you have legal help and cover.

at the very least take a work colleague as a witness to what is said as its amazing what company hr and bosses forget they have said and done.

I have attended several ETs over the last few years i connection with my work as opposed to me taking a company to ET.
It depends very much on your case, how complex?, what is the claim for?, i would say that as a basic you have to have some idea of employment law and procedure, if your company employs a barrister you will really struggle against them.
Please do not believe people who say it is not a court of law because apart from the dress and some other little things it can seem very much like that and unless you are used to that you may be intimidated.
You may also have a lot of paperwork or "Bundles" which you will be asked questions of so if you do not do your homework you can also be caught out very quickly.

Regards

Thanks for the feedback. A friend that was sacked is due to be there next week with a claim of unfair dismissal. Even though the company deny this they have made an offer to settle through ACAS.
Not sure if there playing mind games or not but they've declined the offer which was roughly 20% of the amount there looking to get.

Looks like hard work to me and very stressful but there adamant there going to see it through regardless of the outcome.

Shame really as she was a good worker .....

i nearly ended up at an ET representing myself, i was advised by a close friend who is a union rep that the tribunal judges tend to be more lenient on people who self represent with regards to procedures etc.

I settled 2 days before appearing despite previous offers that i declined as they were below what i believed i would get from the tribunal. You have to be realistic about what your likely to be awarded.

If it is next week then it is probably to late but i found out at the last minute i was entitled to free legal representation if i had claimed at the start on my house insurance, as i had done the same and got to the tribunal week when i found this out it was to late for me but worth knowing.

The final lesson is always be in a union as i learnt the hard way