Feeling intimidated by the Employer’s representative

It is completely normal to feel intimidated and a bit threatened by the Employer’s representative especially if they have a Solicitor running their case.

Don’t let this put you off pursuing your case. It will be hard at times but you should have the confidence that if you have been treated badly and you have established a good legal basis for your claim then you have every right to take this to the Tribunal. Don’t let the representative convince you differently!

Solicitors, Barristers and Legal Executives are governed by strict codes of conduct that is set out by their respective governing bodies. If they behave badly or outside of the code then you can make a complaint to their Firm or the relevant governing body. For Solicitors this is the Solicitors Regulation Authority, for Barristers it is the Bar Council and for Legal Executives it is the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.

There are unfortunately many unscrupulous representatives who are not legally trained and who take advantage of the Tribunal rules that allow anyone to act as a representative. These people can be difficult to deal with and with no governing body to monitor them you may feel that there is no-where to turn.

If you are dealing with a  non-Solicitor/Barrister/Legal Executive representative you should ensure you keep a written record of any contact that you have with them and if it becomes too much I would recommend writing to them formally putting them on notice that their behaviour is unacceptable and that they should stop.

If this does not stop them then you should write to the Employer enclosing a copy of your letter to the representative and state that you will no longer deal with their representative and should the behaviour not stop you will make a complaint to the Tribunal.

In the event that you have to contact the Tribunal about the situation you should send a copy of the relevant offending correspondence and telephone notes etc.