I just wanted to share with you the challenge I have faced this week. Long story short on Tuesday I received Tribunal papers from an employee who was dismissed by reason of redundancy, - September last year. Along with the usual claim for unfair dismissal was a claim for interim relief. The employee had refused conciliation and had simply asked for a certificate number which he duly received on 15th Jan 2021.
Despite both claims being out of date - interim relief has to be claimed within 7 days of dismissal and of course 30 days less a day for unfair dismissal, added to this interim relief can only be claimed in certain circumstances it appeared this claim had been passed for listing.
I was really confused and worried about the financial implications of interim relief. The case was set for a virtual hearing for 16th Feb, and case orders were for the bundle to be produced and sent 5 working days prior to the hearing, giving me 4 days to contact the Claimant, pull the convert all documents to PDF paginate, index etc.
I emailed the Tribunal and called them, I understand that they may be under a lot of pressure, but for two days all I was told was that it would have been put before a duty judge and they had passed the claim for listing. They were adamant the case hearing would go ahead.
It was only after I contacted the claimant to agree the bundle that I discovered he had not made a claim for interim relief. It is really disconcerting to think that the Company could have spent an awful lot of time and expense on defending a claim that had not been made. I am just please that I verified the claim with the claimant sooner than later
