HCLC News

We're delighted to report that HCLC's Diane Morrison has recently won a big case in the Employment Tribunal.

Diane represented a former Local Authority employee who was forced to resign from her job after 8 years of service. The client was found to have been let down by several managers, all of whom had failed to follow internal procedures to protect her from harassment over a one and half year period.

Diane assisted the client from the beginning of her claim right through to a full 8 day hearing at the Employment Tribunal. The entire matter took a year from first instructions through to final hearing.

The client also had to wait 6 weeks after the hearing had ended to receive the judgment. In the end, the tribunal awarded our client over Ј33,000 in damages! As the client had been reduced to working on a zero-hours basis, she would not have been able to fund her case or pay for representation at the Tribunal had she tried to instruct solicitors on a private basis.

Ian Rathbone, Chair of HCLC said: "On a day when it has been made clear that according to government data, more than a third of successful claimants at Employment Tribunals never receive any of their compensation, and less than half are paid in full, it is refreshing to hear of Diane's success. "But it has been hard and lengthy work on her part, mostly on her own, and was only made possible because of the Trust for London funding for Diane’s post. We are grateful to the Trust for London for that funding. The client would not have been able to afford a private solicitor to represent her. "Once again this kind of situation shows that if all people are to have the opportunity of access to justice, the Government has to do much much more to fund such work through the legal aid mechanism and to put legislation in place to make sure employers cough up for their mistreatment of their employees."

Well done to Diane Morrison!