Practical tips when preparing for an internal procedure or tribunal claim

Most employees don’t enter a job thinking that they will be submitting a grievance, responding to a disciplinary charge or taking their new employer to the Employment Tribunal at any point.  Sadly however sometimes matters do get to a point where either the employment has ended in less than desirable circumstances, or is ongoing, but there are matters that can only be addressed by taking a more formal approach, either through an internal process or via an Employment Tribunal claim.

Good record keeping for both employees and employers is vital when dealing with internal procedures, or tribunal claims.  The retention of good records cannot be over emphasized, as cases can be won or loss because of record keeping.  Often that one minute conversation, or that deleted email may be crucial to a claim but cannot be accurately recalled or proven several days, weeks, months or even years later.

Here are some practical tips for employees and employers to keep in mind when going through any situation at work which may later lead to a grievance, disciplinary or tribunal claim.

Keep a diary of events

Sometimes a seemingly innocuous comment may be of significance and central to a dispute when reviewed at a later date.  Keeping a diary of who said what, where and when will make it far easier when having to recall events at a later date, or preparing a witness statement.  For employees a contemporaneous record can be kept by simply sending an email to themselves on their home email recording the events of the day that may have raised some concern.  An email written on the day of the event will provide time stamp of the date on which events occurred.

Keep a record of email/online correspondence

Often when an employee is suspended from the workplace, or when there is a dismissal they no longer have access to work email accounts that may assist them in providing supporting evidence for any grievance or disciplinary action, or a tribunal claim.  Some unscrupulous employers will even go as far as deleting any email or documentary evidence which may be of assistance to an employee.  It is therefore very important for employees to maintain their own separate record of email correspondence where concerns are raised.

Whenever raising a matter of concern with an employer in a work email, it is always a good idea for employees to blind copy emails to their home email address so that they have their own contemporaneous record of the correspondence.  Emails from an employer can also be forwarded to a home email account.  Always bear in mind that there will be a trail of email records that an employer can retrieve, if a search of an employee’s work email account is made.  If an employee would rather not leave an email trail then they should print out a copy of the email correspondence to be retained for their own records.

When compiling email records it is not sufficient to cut and paste extracts from individual emails into a new document if a copy of the original email is not also retained.  Cut and pasted extracts can be challenged for their accuracy and/or veracity.  It is also better to view an individual email in context as part of an email chain rather than in isolation.

Copies of relevant text messages can also be retained by forwarding each message to a home or work email address, the message can then be printed off.

Employees should note that when considering the level of compensation in dismissal claims, Tribunals will expect claimants to provide evidence of their efforts to find new employment and to mitigate their losses.  It is therefore very important that they keep a record of any attempts to find new employment after their dismissal; this includes keeping a copy of all job adverts responded to, applications submitted and any responses, particularly for online applications.  Claimants will often overlook keeping a record of online applications and later find that they have no proof that they have made attempts secure new employment in this way.  Where possible employees should print out any online job advertisement that they have applied for, along with the submitted application, or at the very least save a screen print of these documents.  Employees should also keep a record of any response to online applications.

Keep a contemporaneous record of conversations

Very often managers or colleagues will deny what was said during a conversation at a later date, particularly if it implicates them in any way.  If employees have had a discussion with a colleague and want to ensure that their account of the meeting is on record, a good way to do this is to send the colleague an email with the employee’s recollection of what was discussed.  The email can start, “I just want to confirm my understanding of what was discussed at our meeting today…”  Again this email should be blind copied to the employee’s home email address and/or a printed copy kept.  This ensures that the employee’s understanding of any discussions is on record.  The recipient can either confirm the employee’s account of events, or if they disagree they then have the onus of putting their own version of events on record.

Keep your records in chronological order

When collating evidence for an internal process or tribunal claim that requires the assistance of a legal adviser, time and money can be saved by keeping records in chronological order.  If your legal adviser has to spend hours sorting records into order the likelihood is that there will be a cost incurred for this. Legal advisers will be appreciative of documents presented in a logical manner.

Providing single sided hard copies of documents in chronological order rather than the originals will also save time and money, as some legal advisers will charge per page for photocopying and/or printing.

Keep a clean copy of the documents and resist the temptation to scribble all over them with notes.  If notes are required and would be helpful to the adviser they should be made on Post It notes rather than on the original document, or notes should be made on a copy of the document rather than the original.  The legal adviser can then be provided with both a clean copy and a copy annotated with any notes.  Parties in proceedings will invariably have to provide a copy of all the documents in their possession that are relevant to the proceedings and if a legal adviser has to spend time deleting written comments from documents this will be at a cost.

If you need any guidance on collating evidence for an internal procedure or tribunal claim please contact us for more information.