There are two things which can make the day better. The first is simple and obvious- it is winning your claim.

The second is fairly obvious too. It is being prepared and includes having an idea what will happen at the tribunal. We do most of the preparation for our clients but we cannot prepare them mentally. That is mainly for the clients themselves.

If you know how your hearing will proceed it will not mean that you win the case- but it might help.

Almost all employment tribunal hearings are in public so if you can it is well worth going to a tribunal to watch a hearing before your own case is due to be heard. Ideally you will be able to watch a case similar to your own but most types of case are dealt with in a similar way so it does not matter too much. Unless you want to spend a lot of time at the tribunal it is best to pick one that is not expected to last too long because the steps are the same regardless of how long the case lasts.

Whether or not you go to see a hearing before your case it is also worth reading up on what happens so we have produced a guide to what you can expect. You can find it in the Employee Guides section of the web-site: An employee’s guide to employment tribunal hearings

Our advice to clients is to be careful what they say about their employer and colleagues- particularly if they have a problem at work or if they have lost their job and are either making a claim or are hoping to reach an agreement. That general advice is especially important in electronic media such as Facebook or Twitter and it goes for e-mails too.

Many people use electronic media as a modern form of gossip and put as much thought into what they write as what they say (not much?). There are two obvious but important differences between what is written in cyberspace and what is said- firstly you cannot be sure who will read what you write, secondly what you write can be copied and kept to use against you later. It will be no use then to deny that you said anything or claim that you were misquoted and taken out of context.

One client put his case in serious jeopardy by comments he made on Facebook about his employer whilst making a discrimination claim.

Another client was dismissed for gross misconduct because of comments she made in an e-mail during her notice period. The e-mail was intended to be light hearted and amusing but the employer did not see it that way. They regarded the e-mail as a gross breach of the clients duty and marched her off the premises. That way the employer thought they could avoid making a redundancy payment and save a sizeable chunk of notice pay.

No matter how witty you are and how amusing your comments you can be sure your employer will not see the joke. Especially if it suits them not to. So it is best to say nothing if you do not want your employer to have the last laugh.