If you think you might take your complaint to tribunal, it is important to gather evidence and keep it safe.
Evidence is very important as you need to be able to prove the essential parts of your claim happened, and how much it cost you.
This could include:
1. Evidence of the problem – if you didn’t get paid as you should, that will be evidence of your payslips, hours worked, your contract, any relevant policies or procedures, letters or emails you sent or received about the problem etc.
If you experienced discrimination or harassment, that will be any evidence you have that the discrimination or harassment took place - a diary you kept, emails, text messages, details of any witnesses and what they said they saw.
You might also need evidence that the treatment you received wasn’t for a non-discriminatory reason, such as because you were not good at your job. Records of supervisions, evidence of your performance, and things like sales figures will help.
2. If it is a discrimination claim (which includes bullying or harassment), you also need to keep evidence of how the discrimination made you feel. And any impact it had on your mental health. This will be important in assessing the amount of compensation you should get.
That might be text messages or emails you sent to family or friends, medical evidence that you went to see a doctor about it, or had to take medication, records of days you took off as a result of how you felt.
It is also important to record exactly which discriminatory words or phrases were used -so it is a good idea to send yourself an email or text (it is a useful way to make a record) of what was said and how it made you feel as close to the time that they were said as possible.
3. Evidence of the amount of money it cost you (what the law calls ‘your losses’). For example, if you have lost your job you will need payslips from your old job that show how much you were earning, and also payslips from any new job or statements of benefits you received.
Keep a diary of any expenses you had to pay while looking for a job – bus fares to interviews, printing costs of job applications, etc. Keep the receipts too.
4. Evidence that you tried to reduce the amount of money it cost you. This could be that you tried to get another job – a record of jobs you applied for and/or recruitment agencies your registered with, or training you did.
You want to keep any evidence you can but you must not break your employer’s rules about confidential information as if you do you could harm your case for compensation. Look at your company’s policies – do they have any rules about not forwarding emails to personal accounts, or not keeping company information? If they do not, you could forward any evidence you have on your work email account to a personal account, or take screenshots, photocopies or print outs of any evidence.
If they do have any rules that prevent this, instead keep a record of what evidence does exist (for example, an email your employer sent you on …… date, with the subject heading …..) so that you can ask them for it once the case has begun. See What to do with the evidence.
There are things you must do before you can start an employment tribunal claim. These are explained in another guide in this series - Before you can start a case at employment tribunal.
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