Post by Patrick Torsney on Dec 2, 2010 21:35:58 GMT 1
Here is a case study from a legal aid funded employment law specialist at Bolton CAB. This case was funded by legal aid, but would not be funded under new plans to remove all funding for anything at all to do with employment problems. This is a real story of a real person assisted by legal aid funding earlier this year
Mr. F
Mr. F is a 41-year old man who was badly injured in a motorcycle accident in 2005. Since then, he's been reliant on his mother & social worker to organise his affairs & provide ongoing day-to-day support
His job at work involved a lot of heavy manual handling which he was left unable to perform due to his injuries. He asked that he be moved to lighter duties, but his employer refused. Mr. F ended up going off on long-term sick & was admitted to hospital for coronary care.
His employer pressured him into resigning, claiming (wrongly) that he had been overpaid wages, before eventually dismissing him anyway.
As a result of losing out on a secure job that he had enjoyed & was planning to return to, client began to suffer from depression & also ran up a number of debts.
A specialist employment adviser told the client that he could submit a grievance/appeal letter to the employer, due to the complete lack of procedures/notice/reasons for dismissal.
Bolton CAB eventually assisted him with an Employment Tribunal claim, which included unauthorised deductions from wages, breach of Working Time Regulations, notice pay & disability discrimination. The bureau also helped Mr. F to obtain medical evidence from his GP plus x-rays of his original injuries.
This was a case funded by legal aid, with Bolton CAB being paid a fixed fee of £230 to deal with it. With the adviser's assistance, Mr. F managed to secure an out-of-court settlement of £5250. The award helped towards clearing client’s debts, & he has now started to respond more positively to treatment for his depression.
Mr. F
Mr. F is a 41-year old man who was badly injured in a motorcycle accident in 2005. Since then, he's been reliant on his mother & social worker to organise his affairs & provide ongoing day-to-day support
His job at work involved a lot of heavy manual handling which he was left unable to perform due to his injuries. He asked that he be moved to lighter duties, but his employer refused. Mr. F ended up going off on long-term sick & was admitted to hospital for coronary care.
His employer pressured him into resigning, claiming (wrongly) that he had been overpaid wages, before eventually dismissing him anyway.
As a result of losing out on a secure job that he had enjoyed & was planning to return to, client began to suffer from depression & also ran up a number of debts.
A specialist employment adviser told the client that he could submit a grievance/appeal letter to the employer, due to the complete lack of procedures/notice/reasons for dismissal.
Bolton CAB eventually assisted him with an Employment Tribunal claim, which included unauthorised deductions from wages, breach of Working Time Regulations, notice pay & disability discrimination. The bureau also helped Mr. F to obtain medical evidence from his GP plus x-rays of his original injuries.
This was a case funded by legal aid, with Bolton CAB being paid a fixed fee of £230 to deal with it. With the adviser's assistance, Mr. F managed to secure an out-of-court settlement of £5250. The award helped towards clearing client’s debts, & he has now started to respond more positively to treatment for his depression.