Preparing for your employment tribunal hearing

Summary

You should email the tribunal and your employer as soon as you know you need to delay it. Say why you need to delay the hearing. For example, you might want to delay the hearing if: * the tribunal has arranged an online hearing but you need a hearing in person * you need more time to get legal advice You should also say when you think the hearing should happen. If you ask for a hearing to be delayed, you might have to pay some of your employer’s legal expenses. It’s more likely you’ll have to pay if you ask for a delay less than a week before the hearing. If you don’t have a legal representative, you’ll need to understand the law that applies to your case and what facts you’ll need to prove. For example, if you’re claiming you’ve been unfairly dismissed, find out how the tribunal will decide if your dismissal was unfair. This will help you know what questions the tribunal will ask you and what you should ask your employer's witnesses. If you’ve been to a type of preliminary hearing called a ‘case management discussion’, the tribunal will have identified the legal issues that it will decide at the final hearing and sent you a summary. That will give you an idea of what you need to.

Key information

• •you or one of your witnesses is sick
• •the tribunal has arranged an online hearing but you need a hearing in person
• •you need more time to get legal advice
• •print out copies of the documents
• •look at the documents on a second computer or device
• •be about things that are relevant to your case
• •be put to the right witness - don't ask a witness what happened at a meeting if they weren't there
• •try to show the witness is wrong or mistaken - for example if documents or other witnesses have a different version of the same events
• •try to get witnesses to admit things that might help your case - for example that they’d given you a good appraisal just before dismissing you
• •answer the tribunal's questions about the legal issues
• •question the other side’s witnesses - this is called ‘cross-examination’
• •explain why you should win at the end of the hearing

Practical guidance

• •Source: [Preparing for your employment tribunal hearing](https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/employment-tribunal/employment-tribunals/the-tribunal-hearing/preparing-for-your-employment-tribunal-hearing/)

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