Employee without prejudice letter

[jedimistress]

We've written a letter to an employee we suspect of having comitted gross misconduct.

We cribbed the letter straight from ACAS and invited employee to a disciplinary hearing. We stated in the letter we were conisdering dismissal (as it has on the ACAS examples letter).

Employee has written back a without prejudice letter, saying she is going to sue for defamation and take us to an employment tibunal.

We have ruled out defamation as we have not made any accusations, just presented facts about the financial irregularites and reasons for the disciplinary.

We are basically being threatened. Can the without prejudice letter be used by us in any subsequent tribunal? I feel we are being threatened quite vexaciously and hope to prove this partly by way of the letter. The threat to go to court is already in place despite the disciplinary hearing not even having taken place. We have followed all ACAS procedure to date.

The employee has got a friend who knows a little about the law to write on her behalf but we get the impression that they are not a solicitor as the threat to sue us for defamation seems a little unreasonable and we don't believe would get very far as this is all confidential between us. We have not published anything or mentioned it to anyone.

We are a tiny charity with no money and have no HR department or solicitors etc. Just run by a volunteer comittee. Any advice much appreciated.

[Count-A-Strong]

we suspect of having comitted gross misconduct.

What evidence / proof do you have?

[woofgang]

According to this it means nothing in your circumstances.
http://www.legal-zone.co.uk/without-prejudice
Also disciplinary hearings are NOT a court of law and different standards and rules apply.

[woofgang]

In order to maintain total confidentiality however, I would suggest that you not answer CAS's question and be very very careful what else you put on this thread, thi s in the public domain!!!!!!!!!

[Count-A-Strong]

Bit of a pointless post if we can't respond to the facts woof.

[woofgang]

Indeed CAS but the facts aren't needed to answer the without prejudice question and if by any chance the complainant saw this ( and stranger things do happen) he or she could absolutely claim that confidentiality had been breached big time. (personal experience)

[Count-A-Strong]

No but the 'threat to sue for defamation' needs facts.

[woofgang]

Yes but not discussed publicly

[Count-A-Strong]

I refer the honourable gentleman to my 11:47 post.

[woofgang]

I think we are in violent agreement here...it is (with respect) pointless to post detailed questions regarding defamation and confidentiality on a public website where details about an individual situation are required in order to answer the question.....

However the only question in this post is

"Can the without prejudice letter be used by us in any subsequent tribunal?"


Which does not require any further detail for an answer to be given.

Whether or not the company (any company) has evidence, and the strength or otherwise of that evidence, is not relevant to the question; and any evidence should not be published or discussed on a public website.
I therefore stand by my answers and comments
also this honourable gentleman is actually a lady :-)

[joko]

i am assuming jedi mistress is not the OPs real name, and she has not mentioned the employees name or charity name so even if the girl saw this shed have a job of proving it meant her

i agree with cas...it does matter why they suspect her because if they just have a 'feeling' that this girl is guilty then i too would make a big fuss ...but if they have good evidence then chances are the girl wont dare take it any further so her crime is not publicised

i have been a supsect on 3 occasions - to my knowledge, merely because i am the new one and it infuriates me when they have actually acted on it....

[nextqueen]

the without prejudice letter cannot be called upon in a court of law. you can also say as an employer that pending findings in the disciplinary hearing, it could lead to dismissal.

[woofgang]

I agree joko but CAS didn't ask "have you got conclusive evidence?" he asked "what evidence have you got?"
Posting that information certainly might identify the folk concerned IRL or at least narrow the field enough to make a defamation complaint stick.

and in the confines of the question asked which is
"Can the without prejudice letter be used by us in any subsequent tribunal?"

the answer remains the same regardless of the culpability or not of either party.

[woofgang]

Actually it can even be admissible in a court of law, according to the link I posted, and to other similar links. The circumstances under which it PROBABLY would be inadmissible in law is where the letter concerned is a genuine attempt to negotiate an out of court settlement. The reason for that is so that offers made by either party cannot be argued in court to be any kind of admission of guilt or culpability.

In any case, a tribunal is not the same as a court of law and different rules apply.